Behind the historical masquerade enacted by Eichendorff in his dramas (and dramatic fragments) the author identifies a covert deep-psychological concern. The early texts are ambiguous, suggestive and rich in metaphors representing a poetic experiment mirroring the tensions between the desires of the subject and the restraints of a 'symbolic order'. The later texts pit positive values against this unsettling state of tension, albeit at the expense of an increasing proclivity towards patriotic and confessional ideologies. But it is precisely this that makes them an accurate reflection of the age in which they took shape.