Poets and Writers in the 18th Century

**Sorry it's late guys I had to switch my info from a power point to text.

Poets and writers 18^th century

The interest of German poets and writers in their ancient predecessors, which is shown in ancient literature, continued into the eighteenth century. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's (1724–1803) patriotic poetry was inspired by the ancient literature. The members of a group of poets called the Göttinger Hain , founded in 1772 were also inspired by this writing.

Clip. The twentieth century scholar, Norbert Elias, has shown that the attention that bourgeois Germans of the eighteenth century devoted to the origins and the virtuous character of their nation was motivated in large part by their rejection of powerful aristocrats and courtiers, who modeled themselves on French counterparts. End Clip. <http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html#ixzz1chMOiynJ> November 1^st, 2011

Joseph von Eichendorff

Joseph Eichendorff was born March 10^th, 1788. Joseph was a poet and novelist and is considered one of the great writers of the German Romantic Movement (movement containing art with extreme feeling and imagination instead of traditions).

• Studied law at Heidelberg (published first verse and became acquainted with the Romantics)
• Fought against Napoleon in Prussian war of liberation
• Prussian war = inspiration for poems, wrote romantic novel Ahnung und Gegenwart (in 1819, Premonition and Present; a need for spiritual cure for moral ills) and Novellen des Marmorbilds (also 1819, Novellas of a Marble Statue; much like a fairy tale)
• Poetic collection Gedichte (Poems) written in 1837 inspired composers such as: Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and Richard Strauss
• 1826: published important Romantic fiction Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing)
• Died November 26^th, 1857 in Neisse

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt in 1749.

• 1765-1771: studied law in Leibzig and Stasbourg
• Earned recognition at college for his poems and lyrics
• Returned to Frankfurt and practiced law and poetry/writing
• 1773: Gotz von Berlichingen mit der eisenen Hand published and made Goethe a main representative for the Sturm und Drang movement
• Recognized for literature was invited to Weimar and took over many political offices
• 1786-1790: Science was more important to him then his literature so he travelled through Italy to do scientific research
• 1794: Freidrich Schiller helped Goethe find a new style of writing now know as the Weimarer Klassik
• 1808: Goethe finished Faust
• 1811-1814: finished autobiography
• 1831: finished Faust 2
• Died 1832

Johann Christoph Friedrich

von Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was born in 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg. Schiller's parents were of Lutheran. Johannes Kaspar Schiller, his father, was an officer and surgeon.

• Ordered by Duke Karl Eugen (Charles II) to attend military academy verses studying theology like Schiller originally planned
• Military strengthened his need for freedom
• Studied law then entered medical department
• 1780: dismissed from academy after writing controversial essay on religion and forced to join father's regiment
• 1781: Die Rauber (The Robbers) published, his first drama about an outlaw, Karl Moor, who rejected his fathers values; successful among students
• Fled to Wurttemberg because of pressure from the Duke about his 'Sturm und Drang' writings
• 1787: wrote Don Carlos with continued father and son conflict
• With Goethe's influence Schiller was appointed professor of history at Jena
• 1787-1792: wrote on historical subjects including history of the Thirty Years War (1791-1793)
• 1790: married Charlotte von Lengefeldt
• Throughout 1790's wrote philosophical poems and studies about philosophy under influence of Kant
• Assisted Goethe in Weimar in the direction of the Court Theater by adapting many plays for the stage
• Popular for An Die Freude (Ode to Joy) which was later turned to music by Ludwig van Beethoven and his Wallenstein trilogy about the Thirty Years War
• Died at age 46 in Weimar on May 9^th, 1805

The Luther Bible

• Written in Upper Saxony German
• Spread throughout German Speaking world
• Main readers were the educated society
• Occurred during Age of Enlightenment (18^th Century)

Age of Enlightenment

• Before 1750 the German upper classes looked to France for intellectual, cultural and architectural leadership
• High society spoke French
• After 1750 German culture in music, philosophy, science, and literature was transformed to higher quality which started the Enlightenment
• Christian Wolff (1679-1754): writer who explained the Enlightenment to German readers; legitimized German as philosophic language
• Proto-Romanticism, Weimar Classicism movements occurred aiming to establish new humanism by combining romantic, classical, and enlightened ideas
• Important individuals = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
• The Enlightenment won support of princes, aristocrats, and middle classes which permanently reshaped the German culture

German artists and intellects were influenced by the French Revolution, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism. The Brothers Grimm (1785-1863 & 1786-1859) were popular during the eighteenth century for writing Grimm's Fairy Tales and being some of the founding fathers of German philology and German studies.

Clip. At the universities high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature. With Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) in philosophy, Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) in theology and Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) in history, the University of Berlin, founded in 1810, became the world's leading university. Von Ranke, for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography. By the 1830s mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) in natural science and Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) in mathematics. Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile. End Clip. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_history#1648-1815> November 2^nd, 2011

WEB SITES

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_history#1648-1815> November 2^nd, 2011

<http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/country/Germany/German_poets.html> November 2^nd, 2011

<http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Germany.html#ixzz1chMOiynJ> November 2^nd, 2011

<http://www.aboutvienna.org/personalities/goethe.htm> November 2^nd, 2011

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vernacular> November 2^nd, 2011

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_history#Enlightenment> November 2^nd, 2011