Goethe was born at 1749 in a wealthy citizen's family in Frankfurt am Rhine when he was young. His grandfather was an industrialist and made a fortune in business. His father is a doctor of law and was awarded the title of Royal Senate. His mother is the daughter of the president of the city council. Goethe, a teenager, had a good cultural upbringing and loved literature and art.
Goethe went to the University of Leipzig to study law in accordance with his father's wishes on 1920. However, he is not interested in law, but studies literature, painting and natural science. Under the influence of court literature and classical literature, he learned to write poems and plays. 1768 Goethe was forced to drop out of school because of poor health.
Goethe recovered from 1920 and went to the University of Strasbourg for further study. Goethe was influenced by Rousseau here and accepted Spinoza's philosophy. More importantly, he met Herder, the leader of the "charge from the front" movement, and a group of young writers. Held led him to learn from Homer and Shakespeare, and collected and studied folk songs. During this period, Goethe wrote a number of lyric poems with sincere feelings and beautiful melody, such as Meeting and Parting, Song of May and Wild Rose, which initiated a new era of German lyric poetry.
Goethe completed his studies in 1998 and obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Strasbourg. However, he devoted himself to literary creation and wrote a number of excellent works that reflected the spirit of "charging from the front", which became the climax of his youth. In a few years, he not only wrote many poems such as Prometheus, but also wrote the drama Gotz the Iron Knight? Seal? Berlichenken, the novel Young Werther, etc. The epistolary novel Young Werther is largely based on the author's own life experience. After the publication of this novel, it aroused strong repercussions among young people, immediately swept Europe, and established Goethe's position in the international literary world.
165438+ Goethe's life took a turning point during his trip to Weimar in October. He accepted Carl? At the invitation of Duke Augustus, he came to Weimar and later settled here. Soon, he became an official of Weimar court. He first served as a consultant and parliamentary secretary, and later became a cabinet minister, presiding over the government affairs of Weimar Principality. For ten years, Goethe rarely created literature and was busy with administrative affairs. He is enthusiastic about social improvement, such as rectifying finance, streamlining the army, restoring mines, building roads, reducing farmers' taxes, and developing culture and education. , and sometimes serve the duke to travel, hunt and write products.
Compared with Strom Delong's period, the poems of this period tend to be stable, and the enthusiastic praise of nature and life has turned into in-depth observation and exploration, as well as thinking about the relationship between man and nature. Goethe's poems, such as The Wanderer's Nocturne and To the Moon, and narrative ballads, such as The Devil and the Fisherman, were written in this period.
In September of the classicism year, he finally couldn't stand this suffocating environment any longer, changed his name and surname, fled Weimar by post car alone, and came to Italy, which he had been longing for for for for a long time. Goethe's practice in Italy became classicism. Goethe critically reviewed his past with a new point of view, abandoned the fantasy of hurricane and pursued a quiet and harmonious humanitarian ideal. At the same time, Goethe regained his creative enthusiasm and completed some works that he had started, among which Egmont, Effienne of Doris and De Cuaddo were important. Some scenes of Tasso and Faust.
Goethe chose seclusion in his later years. He buried himself in writing with amazing perseverance, and many important works were completed during this period, such as the novel William? Mester's Wandering Years, Affinity, Autobiography Poetry and Truth, Travel Notes in Italy, and Journey to France, the most important of which is the poetic drama Faust, which took him nearly 60 years to complete.