Goethe was one of the greatest German writers, thinkers, and scientific theorists of all time. He was famous for such works as Faust, The Sorrows of Young Werther (first novel) and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (second novel.)
Early Life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 in the German city of Frankfurt, to an influential family. He had a comfortable childhood. Educated at home, he was greatly influenced by his mother, an artistic woman who encouraged his love of literature. When he was 16, Goethe went to Leipzig University. Two years later he began an unhappy love affair that inspired his first play, The Lover's Caprice.
The Sorrows of Young Werther
After a period of illness Goethe resumed his studies. He fell in love with a woman who was engaged to someone else. In an attempt to express his anguish he wrote The Sorrows of Young Werther, a novel that made him famous throughout Europe and influenced the development of modern German literature.
Sturm und Drang Movement
Back in Frankfurt, the 24-year-old Goethe joined a group called Sturm und Drang ('Storm and Stress"), which wrote emotionally intense works that were part of the Romantic movement. In classical music, this period is often attributed to the Viennese composer Joseph Haydn, the older friend of then young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A few years later Goethe accepted an appointment to the court of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar. For the next 10 years he wrote little although pursued his scientific and political work.
Goethe in Italy
Goethe might be the greatest poet of Germany, yet he also embraced Europe. He travelled to Italy, long regarded by him as the centre of culture. He returned a changed man and left his post to concentrate on writing. His masterpiece, Faust, which he began years earlier, was completed just before his death. An epic work, it shows Goethe's development, as well as that of European society.
Last Words on Goethe
Goethe admired Lord Byron's Don Juan and especially loved the comic rhyme of the English language in it. His career as a writer and as a thinker spanned the end of Classicism and the beginning of Romanticism. His concerns transcended the individual's emotions, always questing for knowledge and believing in salvation. At the age of 82, Goethe died on March 22, 1832 in Weimar.
"Now slants the fiery god toward the west,
Hating away, but seeking in his round
New life afar: I long to join his quest,
On tireless wings uplifted from the ground."
Faust, Part One,Translation by Philip Wayne
Works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Lover's Caprice, 1767
- The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1774
- Clavigo, 1774
- Stella, 1775
- Iphigenia: A Tragedy, 1787
- Egmont, 1787
- Torquato Tasso, 1789
- Roman Elegies, 1788-1790
- Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, 1795-1796
- Hermann and Dorothea, 1798
- Faust, Part One, 1808, Part Two, 1832
- Italian Journey, 1816-1817
- Wilhelm Meister's Travels, 1821-1829
- Poetry and Truth, 1811-1831
Sources:
Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby, Cambridge UP (1993)
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Laroussse (1994)
The A-Z of Great Writers by Tom Payne, Carlton, 1997
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