Bürger

Bürger, GOTTFRIED AUGUST, German lyric poet, was born 31st December 1747, at Molmerswende, near Halberstadt, the son of the Lutheran pastor. In boyhood he displayed no inclination to study, and Latin he especially abhorred; but he showed at the same time a relish for verse, though his only model was the hymn-book. He was educated at Aschersleben and Halle, where in 1764 he began to study theology; but in 1768 he migrated to Göttingen, and entered on a course of jurisprudence. His life here was wild and extravagant, and he might have sunk into obscurity, if the intimacy which he happily formed with Voss, the two Stolbergs, and others of that youthful poet band, had not stirred up his better nature, and inspired him with an ambition to excel. He studied closely the ancient and modern classics; Shakespeare and Percy's Reliques had the strongest influence of all. As to his poems, chiefly ballads and songs, even German critics, such as Schiller, Gervinus, and Vihmar, differ widely in their opinions; but all agree in praising the clear, strong versification of Lenore, the Wild Huntsman, and other of his ballads. As Percy's Reliques had inspired Bürger, so Bürger in turn inspired Sir Walter Scott, whose earliest production was a translation of Lenore. Bürger's life was spent in great poverty and misery, the result partly of misfortune, and partly of his own sin. Thrice he married, and thrice unhappily—first in 1774, Dora Leonhart; next in 1785, her sister Auguste, the 'Molly' of his poems, who had borne him a son in Dora's lifetime; and lastly, in 1790, his 'Swabian maiden,' Elise Hahn, whom he divorced in 1792. Unfortunately speculations involved him in embarrassment; and, favourite poet though he was of the German nation, he was left to earn his bread by translations and similar hack-work. He died at Göttingen, 8th June 1794. Of his poems, the first collection of which appeared in 1778, there have been numerous editions, the best being Reinhard's (4 vols. 1796-98), Tittmann's (1869), Grisebach's (2 vols. 1873), and Sauer's (1884). See his Life by Döring (1826) and Pröhle (1856), and his Letters (5 vols. 1802-74).