Presentation 2 - Poets and Writers in the 18th Century

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock:

• He attended the Gymnasium in Quelinberg and in 1739 he attended the classical school of Schulpforta
• While attending this school he became intrigued with Greek and Latin versification, here he wrote some meritorious idylls and odes in German
• While still in school he drafted a plan for "Der Messias" which is one of his most famous peices of work
• After finishing school he went to University called Jena he later dropped out and joined a band of boys who contributed to Bremer Beiträge. During this period 3 cantos of Der Messias were anonymously published
• After the death of his wife in 1758 Klopstocks poetry became vague and unitelligible
• In 1773 he published the last 5 cantos of the Messias and then retired to Hamburg, Germany
• He is most known for his influence on Geothe, the Goettinger poets, and the Sturm and Drang movement.