Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One of the foremost students of German literature, poet, playwright, and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1749. The child of a royal councilor, Goethe studied very well before joining Leipzig University in 1765. was there to study law, Goethe gained fame for her poems, written in lyric and rococo style, and completed her first collection, Annette, a collection of romantic poems. In 1768, Goethe suffered from lung disease and spent about a year and a half, writing the Leipzig Songbook, a series of ten poems that were used for songs. One of his most famous works, the loosely autobiographical The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), also begins at this time. In 1775, Goethe joined the royal court in Weimar, where he spent nearly a decade committed to the arts and sciences. A trip to Italy in 1786 excited his excitement in poetry and prophecy. The ancient art that Geethe encountered in Rome inspired the play and poetry collection, Roman Elegies (1787). Goethe continued to draw inspiration from his surroundings. During the French Revolution, he was expelled from his home after French troops invaded Prussia. Made between his support for democracy and his unwillingness to break free from his capitalist way of life, Goethe wrote Hermann and Dorothea (1797), a dramatic poem that explores the difference between the chaos and the subtle peace that accompanies unclean living. Goethe is best known for his beautiful poem Faust (1808), based on the famous fable played by Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. The poem depicts a young scholar, disillusioned with the limitations of his education, power, and enjoyment of life, including the devil's help in losing his soul. In Faust, Goethe draws away from Christian, medieval, and ancient sources, making the first-person struggle of the legend between good and evil and question what human fulfillment is all about. Goethe had a major impact on subsequent literary movements, including Romanticism and expressionism, and made an important contribution to the philosophical and natural schools of thought.