Klopstock

Klopstock, FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB, was born 2d July 1724, at Quedlinburg. Incited by Virgil's Aeneid and Milton's Paradise Lost, he resolved to write a great epic poem whilst a theological student at Jena (1745), selected for his theme The Messiah, and while at Leipzig got the first three cantos published in a Bremen magazine (1748). They were received with enthusiasm, except by Gottsched, who denounced his language and verse structure as heretical innovations. He settled in Hamburg in 1771 with a sinecure appointment, and pensions from the king of Denmark (since 1751) and the margrave of Baden. In 1773 the last cantos of The Messiah were published; the poet died 14th March 1803. His name has (or rather had) a very high place in German literature. For instance, he was taken by the Göttinger Dichterbund as their model and poetic hero, and was greatly admired by young Schiller. Whatever may be thought of the intrinsic value of his poetry, it cannot be denied that he helped to inaugurate the golden age of German literature, and exercised a very beneficial influence on the national taste. When he first began to write, the literature of Germany was dominated by French influences—a cold, correct, unimaginative spirit. Klopstock broke loose from this despotism and breathed the air of freedom into German poetry. Odes, tragedies—in which he introduces Arminius as a national hero—and biblical dramas, with some hymns, constitute the remainder of his poetry. Of these his Odes alone possess interest and value now. His works were collected and published in 12 vols. (1798–1817), and in 9 vols. (1839). The Messiah has been translated into both English verse and prose. See Life by Muncker (1887–88).