“The Sopranos” debuted 25 years ago, but what makes it a masterpiece is how much older its themes are. In 1827, Goethe wrote a poem that begins, “America, you have it better.” The German genius ended with the wish that America’s children, when they took up the pen themselves, wouldn’t write stories about “knights, robbers and ghosts.”

He wasn’t just warning Americans to stay away from childish entertainments and fairy tales — though it’s easy to guess what he’d think of “Star Wars” and other Disney products. America was a new land with new promise, and Goethe hoped it would grow up to tell stories that didn’t depend on the bloody feuds and status conflicts of Europe, as attractive as those might be to the romantic imagination.