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| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |
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| Born | 28 August 1749 Free Imperial City of Frankfurt or Frankfurt on Main, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 22 March 1832 (aged 82) Weimar, Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
| Occupation | Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Natural Philosopher, Diplomat, Civil servant |
| Nationality | German |
| Period | Romanticism |
| Literary movement | Sturm und Drang; Weimar Classicism |
| Notable work(s) | e.g. Faust; The Sorrows of Young Werther; Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship; Elective Affinities |
| Spouse(s) | Christiane Vulpius |
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listen), 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and polymath.^
Contents |
Goethe. Painting by Luise Seidler (Weimar 1811).The 'spoon guards' had broken in, they had drunk wine, made a great uproar and called for the master of the house.^Every personage is made to live; they speak in short, sharp sentences like the powerful lines of a great master's drawing.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
Goethe's secretary Riemer reports: 'Although already undressed and wearing only his wide nightgown … he descended the stairs towards them and inquired what they wanted from him … . His dignified figure, commanding respect, and his spiritual mien seemed to impress even them.' But it was not to last long. Late at night they burst into his bedroom with drawn bayonets. .Goethe was petrified, Christiane raised a lot of noise and even tangled with them, other people who had taken refuge in Goethe's house rushed in, and so the marauders eventually withdrew again.^His companions were the brothers Stolberg, noisy, wild young noblemen, who is May had stayed at Goethes house.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^Frankfort [Frankfurt] was full of French soldiers, and a certain Comte Thorane, who was quartered in Goethes house, had an important influence on the boy.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^Frankfort was full of French soldiers, and a certain Comte Thorane, who was quartered in Goethe's house, had an important influence on the boy.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
It was Christiane who commanded and organized the defense of the house on the Frauenplan. The barricading of the kitchen and the cellar against the wild pillaging soldiery was her work. .Goethe noted in his diary: "Fires, rapine, a frightful night … Preservation of the house through steadfastness and luck."^After a night quietly slept through, we heard of the violent commotion which had shaken the house the previous evening.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
The luck was Goethe's, the steadfastness was displayed by Christiane.– Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy, Ch. 5[7]
.The morning after Goethe's death, a deep desire seized me to look once again upon his earthly garment.^He died at Rome in October 1830, and is buried close by the pyramid of Caius Cestius, where Goethe himself once desired to be laid.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
His faithful servant, Frederick, opened for me the chamber in which he was laid out. Stretched upon his back, he reposed as if asleep; profound peace and security reigned in the features of his sublimely noble countenance. The mighty brow seemed yet to harbour thoughts. I wished for a lock of his hair; but reverence prevented me from cutting it off. .The body lay naked, only wrapped in a white sheet; large pieces of ice had been placed near it, to keep it fresh as long as possible.^In one of these spaces Abraham resides; his brother Lot is near him: but they cannot long remain in such places.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
^As his dwelling lay near the Eschenheim gate, my way when I had visited him led me out of the city to some pieces of ground which my father owned beyond the gates.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
^The repertoire of the Weimar theatre was stocked with pieces of solid merit which long held their place.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
Frederick drew aside the sheet, and I was astonished at the divine magnificence of the limbs. .The breast was powerful, broad, and arched; the arms and thighs were elegant, and of the most perfect shape; nowhere, on the whole body, was there a trace of either fat or of leanness and decay.^Rector Albrecht was one of the most original figures in the world,-- short, broad, but not fat, ill-shaped without being deformed; in short, an Aesop in gown and wig.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
A perfect man lay in great beauty before me; and the rapture the sight caused me made me forget for a moment that the immortal spirit had left such an abode. .I laid my hand on his heart - there was a deep silence - and I turned away to give free vent to my suppressed tears.^My desire to become acquainted with such things he used very dexterously to divert my attention by sending me forth as his dun, and to turn me away from my intention.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
^Owing to my unremitted teazing and exhortation, the work went on, though slowly enough; for, as it was of that kind which can be taken in hand or laid aside at will, there was always something by which it was thrust out of the way, and put aside.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
– (p. 426, Da Capo Press edition, John Oxenford translation)
.As to what I have done as a poet,… I take no pride in it… But that in my century I am the only person who knows the truth in the difficult science of colours - of that, I say, I am not a little proud, and here I have a consciousness of a superiority to many.^A warrior is worthy of honor, who considers himself a guest in the house of an enemy; but here there is no enemy, only a mistaking man.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
^My father had brought up a young person, who had been his footman, valet, secretary, and in short successively all in all.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
^And as elements of this kind, from "Ovid's Metamorphoses," or the "Pantheon Mythicum" of Pomey, were humming in swarms about my head, I had soon put together in my imagination a little piece of the kind, of which I can only say that the scene was rural, and that there was no lack in it of king's daughters, princes, or gods.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
– Johann Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe
…I have found no confession of faith to which I could ally myself without reservation. .Now in my old age, however, I have learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they would treasure, admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their knowledge, and in as much as it must have a close connection to the Godhead, pay it reverence.^No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.
Johann von Goethe Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.quoteland.com [Source type: General]
^We must not take the faults of our youth with us into old age, for age brings along its own defects.
Johann von Goethe Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.quoteland.com [Source type: General]
^He did, however, read it, and learned much of it by heart.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
.A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian.^In Goethes opinion, yellow was light seen through a thickened medium; blue was darkness seen through an illuminated medium; all other colours were derived from these two.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
.That, however, is no small task, for how does one, in the limitations of one's individuality, come to know what is most excellent?^He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.
Johann von Goethe Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.quoteland.com [Source type: General]
^The really unhappy person is the one who leaves undone what they can do, and starts doing what they don't understand; no wonder they come to grief.
Johann von Goethe Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.quoteland.com [Source type: General]
^No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.
Johann von Goethe Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.quoteland.com [Source type: General]
– from a letter to Sulpiz Boisserée dated 22 March 1831[27]
We conceive of the individual animal as a small world, existing for its own sake, by its own means. .Every creature is its own reason to be.^Every creature is its own reason to be (Goethe 1988, 121).
CONNECTIONS WITH A QUALITY OF NECESSITY: 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.arch.ksu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^Every creature is its own reason to be.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.All its parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we are justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect.^All its parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we are justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^As Goethe wrote in his 1820 Introduction to Comparative Anatomy, All [an animals] parts have a direct effect on one another, a relationship to one another, thereby constantly renewing the circle of life; thus we are justified in considering every animal physiologically perfect.
CONNECTIONS WITH A QUALITY OF NECESSITY: 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.arch.ksu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.Viewed from within, no part of the animal is a useless or arbitrary product of the formative impulse (as so often thought).^Viewed from within, no part of the animal is a useless or arbitrary product of the formative impulse (as so often thought).
CONNECTIONS WITH A QUALITY OF NECESSITY: 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.arch.ksu.edu [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^His plays, with the exception of "Egmont" and the First Part of "Faust," have not commanded the stage; they form no part, I believe, of the stock of any German theatre.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.djmcadam.com [Source type: Original source]
.Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance.^Externally, some parts may seem useless because the inner coherence of the animal nature has given them this form without regard to outer circumstance.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^The moral may be held by some to exalt the preponderance of fatality in human affairs, and the uselessness of contending against irresistible circumstance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, dramatist and scholar (1749-1832) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.1902encyclopedia.com [Source type: Original source]
^At the same time a different taste was developed in him for observing the conditions of mankind in their manifold variety and naturalness, without regard to their importance or beauty.
Autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Full Text Free Book (Part 1/7) 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.fullbooks.com [Source type: Original source]
Thus…[not] the question, What are they for? but rather, Where do they come from?– .Suhrkamp ed., vol 12, p.^
Suhrkamp ed., vol 12, p.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^Italian Journey , Suhrkamp ed., vol 6.
Radio Swiss Jazz - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Biography 17 January 2010 16:17 UTC www.radioswissjazz.ch [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^Ernst Beutler); COLLECTED WORKS (1983-89, 12 vols., ed.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 20 January 2010 22:26 UTC www.kirjasto.sci.fi [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
121; trans. Douglas Miller, Scientific Studies
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Contents
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (August 28, 1749 – March 22, 1832) was a German writer, poet, novelist, and playwright. He also worked as an actor, administrator, scientist, geologist, botanist and philosopher. He influenced many 19th century writers and thinkers. His contributions to science include his work in botany and his Theory of Colours. Famous lines from his books are often quoted, and some of his phrases have become part of the German language. His poems were set to music by composers like Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, and Strauss. Critics and scholars say his poems are only good in German, because that is the language he wrote them in. His plays are not often performed outside Germany, and most of his scientific work now seems old-fashioned.
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Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His father was well-educated and very strict. His mother was only eighteen when he was born. When Goethe was a young boy, he began to write stories and plays for his friends. In his youth, he learned Greek, Latin and French. He studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768. He also wrote some letters that are seen as beautiful, and that showed his promise as a writer. He continued his studies in Strasbourg from 1770 to 1771. He joined other young men who wanted to change the way that Germans were writing. He thought that people like Johann Christoph Gottsched were too strict about writing poetry. Instead of the ideas of the Enlightenment, he wanted poets to be creative and make their own rules.
One man who had many new ideas was a poet named Johann Gottfried von Herder. Herder liked the plays of Shakespeare (which he had learned in German) as well as folk poetry. These ideas were exciting for Goethe, and he helped Herder to collect folk poetry. Both men believed that poetry should always come from the heart, and that it should be based on the poet’s experiences instead an old-fashioned idea of what a good poem should be. Some of Goethe's best known poems were written during this time, like Heidenröslein, Der König in Thule, and Erlkönig.
Goethe fell in love with several women during his lifetime. During the early period of his life, he was in love with a girl named Friederike Brion, the daughter of a pastor. Several of his poems are inspired by her. He felt extremely sad when they split up. The feeling of desertion by a lover is a lot of Goethe’s works. They are all based on his own experience. His disappointment in love inspired him when writing about Werther in Die Leiden des jungen Werthers and Gretchen in his great play Faust. His poems also show his ideas about science and philosophy.
Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sufferings of Young Werther) is a book written in the form of letters. Werther is a young man who falls passionately in love with a girl called Lotte who is married to someone else. Werther kills himself in the end. The book was very successful all over Europe. People talked about “Werther fever.” Many young men who were disappointed in love copied Werther and killed themselves.
Goethe’s most famous work is a very long play called Faust. He spent most of his life working at it. He was writing the first version of Faust at this time. Based on a legendary character, it tells of a man called Faust who is tired of studying and wants to have the greatest possible happiness. The devil (called Mephistopheles in the play) tells Faust he can help him to do this, but that in the end Faust must give him his soul and go with him to hell. Faust uses magic in the hope that it will tell him everything about life.
Along with writing, Goethe was developing a career in law. In 1772, he spent four months in Wetzlar at the Imperial Law Courts. Here he made new friends, including a young girl who was already engaged to someone else.
Goethe had been well-educated and was good at organizing and getting on with important people. For eleven years he worked at the court of Weimar for a young Duke called Karl August. He became a member and later the president of the Duke’s cabinet. He had to organize road-building projects, and look after parks and buildings. He studied geology, mineralogy, botany and anatomy. He fell in love with a woman called Charlotte von Stein who was married and had several children. He wrote love letters to her, and she inspired him to write many poems. At this time he felt that a man’s task in life was to be useful. The heroes of his books at this time were often ordinary people instead of geniuses.
After a time he realized that all his work on governmental duties were not giving him time for his writing, so he went to Italy for 18 months. He loved the landscape and made lots of sketches, and he read the ancient poets and books on the history of art. He wrote a play in rhyme called Iphigenie auf Tauris which combines the beauty of Classicism with great poetry.
When he returned from Italy he settled once more in Weimar. He visited Italy a second time. He became great friends with the famous poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller. The two men talked about many of their ideas and helped one another by offering criticism of their works. He wrote short works such as Hermann und Dorothea which is about life in a small German town at the time of the French Revolution.
Two works of the greatest importance works occupied him at this time. One is the novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. This is an example of what is called in German a “Bildungsroman” which means something like “Education novel”. It means a novel which shows a person growing up and developing his character and learning about the world. This book was a very important influence on the 19th century Romantic novel and on all German autobiographical novels ever since. Goethe spent many years working on this book.
The second work of enormous importance was his play Faust. He made changes to the original version, putting all the small bits together into one great play. Schiller gave him advice while he was writing it. Faust enters into a pact with the devil, Mephistopheles who promises him all his soul can wish for: fine living, gold, women and honour. He signs the pact with his blood.
Napoleon was fighting wars all over Europe at this time. Germany, which was still made up of lots of small countries, was an enemy of France. Goethe always thought of Napoleon as a hero. His ideas about politics were still based on 18th century ideas. He hated war and so he did not take part in politics but concentrated on science and literature. He wrote a book called Die Wahlverwandtschaften (Elective Affinities) which is about a divorce problem. Some of his scientific ideas are used in the story as he talks about the way that two chemical compounds can break up and form new unions. He compares this to the people in his story. His poems in Westöstlicher Divan are some of his greatest. He uses ideas from Persia and other Eastern countries together with ideas from the West. It has a lot of parables about human life.
Many interesting things that Goethe said were written down in a book by his friend Eckermann, who published them in a book called Conversations with Goethe. Goethe also wrote about his own life in his autobiography which he called Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth). The book tells us about his youth up to the time of his arrival in Weimar. It is in four parts. The fourth part was published after his death. He chose the title to show that he was telling us the truth about his life, but that he had changed the order of some events to make it into a poetic book.
Goethe wrote a sequel (a part which follows on) to Wilhelm Meister called Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (The Years of Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderings). It consists of several sections which are like separate stories. They tell us about Wilhelm Meister’s relationship with society and how he has to change his ways to fit in with other people.
Goethe’s Faust had made him the greatest person in European literature. At the end of his life he finished a second part of Faust. It is quite hard to read, and is more of a long poem than a dramatic play. It talks of his ideas about allegory, science and philosophy.
Goethe died in Weimar on March 22, 1832. He had started as a great Classical writer of the 18th century and finished as a young Romantic of the 19th century. No one else had such a big influence on art and literature of that time.
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