Goethe was the philosophical architect of his time, who is often ranked with the likes of Homer, Shakespeare, and Dante. His intellect had an impact on everyone he met, including Napoleon Bonaparte, who exclaimed “There is a man!” after their rendezvous in Erfurt (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet and writer whose career in literature birthed Romantic classics, such as the infamous Faust. His brilliance is the result of a well-educated and curious childhood and is indubitably shown in his works (“Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”). Born into a rather large family, Goethe was one of the only children of Johann Kaspar Goethe and Katharina Elisabeth Textor to survive infancy as well as his sister Cornelia, who …show more content…
There, he finished his degree in law and met Johann Gottfried Herder, the pseudo-leader of the Sturm und Drang movement and soon to be one of Goethe’s greatest influences. Shakespeare, Homer, and Ossian are authors that inspired Goethe’s true literary awakening (according to the poet himself), and each were authors encouraged by Herder for Goethe to read. (Jensen) This newfound inspiration led Goethe to write new works, each showing the influence of his idolized authors. The Sturm und Drang movement emphasized individualism in literature. With this movement, Goethe published Wanderers Sturmlied in 1771, Mahomets Gang in 1772, and An Schwager Kronos in 1774. During this time, he published works such as his Neve Lieder and Sesenheimer Leder. Following this literary influx, Goethe moved to the liberal city Darmstadt. There he was inspired to write Göts von Berlichingen, a protest against establishment. This essay was celebrated in his liberal society. …show more content…
As he grew older, his passion for philosophy and science flourished in his later works. His interests were vast and his mind was as curious as it ever was (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Goethe exploited his curiosity greatly during 1775, when Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar enlisted him as minister of state. Living a lavish life in the German court, Goethe busied himself by looking into agriculture, economics, and other sciences. After a while, however, he began to feel hindered by his government position, considering it a burden that he had to spend all his time invested in politics instead of his passion— creative writing. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) During the Weimar period, Goethe wrote ballads, poems, epics, and tragedies. The Weimar period can be distinguished not only by his indulgence in the sciences, but his budding love for a woman, Frau von Stein, who was his senior by seven years. Several poems of this period reflect how she altered his passions and maturity, such as Harzreise in 1777, Ein Gleiches in 1780, Ilmenau in 1783, and Zueighung in 1784. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) Love inspired Goethe greatly, for he was constantly ogling after women, dedicating poems to them and giving them fictional guises. A famous example of this is his obsession with Charlotte Buff, a married woman. Because she was
Brahms?s boyhood days passed uneventfull. He grew up with his brother fritz and sister Elise amid the poorest surroundings. Fritz turned to music (the Neue Zeitschrift mentions his successful debut at Hamburg in January 1864) was a piano teacher in Hamburg, lived for many years in Caracas, and died at an early age in Hamburg of a disease of the brain. Elise married a watchmaker, much to Johannes? disappointment.
He also has a continuing theme of his work being premature. This theme comes from his strong ego believing that the reason that he is not widely read is because his ideas are too revolutionary to be understood. "But it would contradict my character entirely if I expected ears and hands for my truths today: that today one doesn't hear me and doesn't accept my ideas is not only understandable, it seems right to me" (715). His continual focus on the stupidity of Germans becomes irritating after a while. "To think German, to feel German-I can do anything, but not that" (719).
Anyone who reads The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe instantly feels the emotional intensity portrayed by Werther, the protagonist. His speculations about life are indeed unique, especially in modern times when life often goes by quickly without notice. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why his immense emotion strikes a chord with readers as coming from someone crazy or dangerous. Werther’s mental state seems incredibly alive at some times while seemingly lifeless at others. This lifeless state of mind is similar to another sorrowful character in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. In his story of Billy Pilgrim, a similar wonder engulfs the reader, causing us to question the cause of both his mindset and of our own. These books bring a couple of interesting questions to mind… How much emotion is too much? How little is too little? These characters struggle with powerful emotion in many ways, and are therefore judged as mad. The two protagonists engage in totally different journeys, but each of them leads the reader to discover the limits of human emotion. These limits are reached by Werther and Billy, therefore leading to both characters’ demise.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began writing The Sorrows of Young Werther in the early part of 1774. It was written during the Sturm and Drang period in Germany. Sturm and Drang, or more conventionally known as Storm and Stress, was an attempt by people in this period to free themselves from the strict rationalism of the enlightenment period. It is about a young man, Werther, who finds himself in an impossible situation. He is in love with a young woman named Charlotte. Despite knowing that Charlotte is already engaged to another man, Werther continues to ...
According to Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Hesse was born in Germany in 1877. After rebelling from traditional education and being expelled from the seminary in which he was enrolled, he educated himself mostly through books. In his earlier years, he became a bookseller and journalist, which may have inspired his first book, Peter Carmenzind. Being a pacifist, Hesse moved to Switzerland during World War I. He came in contact there with renowned psychologist Carl Jung who inspired some of his better-known works.
Goethe, Johnann Wolfgang von. The Sorrows of Young Werther. Trans. Elizabeth Meyer and Louise Bogan. Forward by W.H. Auden. New York: Vintage, 1990.
At First the article Touches on the questioning of what Faust is. In summery, Faust is the protagonist of an old German story about a guy who is actually really successful, but at the same time is somewhat dissatisfied with his life life. He had a serious lust for earthly happiness, alo...
Emily Dickinson was a different type of poet that has people thinking of things people would never think about in another author’s work. Dickinson was born and raised with the rich life with only two siblings. Her work was inspired by her much of her childhood and the people she interacted with. An example of Dickinson’s different type of style is, “ So I conclude that space and time are things of the body and have little or nothing to do with ourselves. My Country is Truth,”(Berry) Emily Dickinson did not share hardly any of her writing when she was alive. According to Berry,” With the exception of six poems that appeared in newspapers at various times, and another that appeared in a collection of stories and poems in 1878, Emily Dickinson never published her work,” (Berry) Even though Dickinson wrote differently, does not mean she had a different lifestyle compared to most people today. Dickinson was an outstanding American poet where her childhood, family and friends, religion, and education inspired most of her poetry.
On December 10, 1830, in a town called Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson was born (poets.org). Family and friends would come to know her as a loving individual, but to the rest of the world she would become one of the best known poets from the 19th century. Writing over 1,800 poems in all; however, few have been published. Many of her poems are used today to connect with everyday life. Taking a look at her family life will help you understand how she was able to write so many poems and also some of the major influences in life (“Emily Dickinson”).
Von Goethe, Johann W. “The Sorrows of Young Werther.” Romanticism. Ed. John B. Halsted. New . . York: Walker Publishing Company, 1969.
of Prince Johann Ernst of Weimar, but later that year he moved to Arnstadt where he
The Romanticism period is marked by changes in societal beliefs as a rejection of the values and scientific thought pursued during the Age of Enlightenment. During this period, art, music, and literature are seen as high achievement, rather than the science and logic previously held in esteem. Nature is a profound subject in the art and literature and is viewed as a powerful force. Searching for the meaning of self becomes a noble quest to undertake. In the dramatic tragedy of “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, we find a masterpiece of Romanticism writing that includes the concepts that man is essentially good, the snare of pride, and dealing with the supernatural.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche: From the Soul of Artists and Writers." Classic Authors.net / Great Literature Online. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .
Friedrich Nietzsche was without a doubt one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. He was a man who ventured to question all of man's beliefs. He was out to seek the important questions in life, not always their answers. Some consider Nietzsche to be one of the first existentialist philosophers along with Søren Kierkegaard. He was the inspiration for many philosophers, poets, sociologists, and psychologists including Sigmund Freud. His goal to seek explanations for society's commonly accepted values was an inspiration for Freud's psychoanalysis theory1. Nietzsche's life as well as his theories such as the will to power, the Übermensch, eternal recurrence, and his thoughts on religion all had a momentous affect on 19th and 20th century philosophy.
In Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Faust (Part One) as well as in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, love plays a vital role. Love is the reason that an individual strays from the path to enlightenment and begins to act in strange, unpredictable ways. It decreases an individual’s ability to reason and takes away any incentive he might have to seek enlightenment. Since love is based on faith, it goes against the ideals of enlightenment which stress individual thinking. Love brings about a sense of fulfillment, which also works against the ideals of enlightenment which advocate a constant struggle within the individual to find truth or reach a higher plain of thought. In the Age of Enlightenment, love is a temptation man must overcome to reach enlightenment.