Biography

Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany as son of a lawyer. After growing up in a privileged upper middle class family, he studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768, although he was more interested in literature. As he was seriously ill, he had to interrupt his studies, but finally graduated in Strassburg with a degree in law. In the following years, his novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (1774) became one of the first bestsellers, making him a key author in the "Sturm und Drang" (Storm and Stress) movement. In 1775, he settled down in Weimar, being the Duke's adviser and writing popular dramas such as "Egmont" or "Torquato Tasso". One of his life's important milestones was the Italian Journey from 1786 and 1788, where he discovered his interest in Greek and Roman classicism. After his return to Germany, he began the "Weimar Classicism" movement with his good friend Friedrich Schiller, concentrating on poems and dramas such as his best known work "Faust", which he published in two parts (1808/1832). Beside his literary work, he contributed many interesting theories to sciences, making him Germany's leading polymath in that period. On 22 March 1832, he died in Weimar, the town he had lived for more than fifty years.

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe grew up in a well-off, well-protected family in Frankfurt am Main. He enjoyed extensive educational instruction at home. There he was educated in natural sciences, mathematics, literature, old and new languages. In 1765, Goethe began studying law at the University of Leipzig, but he soon turned to literary and artistic topics. So he began taking drawing lessons from Adam Friedrich Oeser, among others. For a long time Goethe had to decide whether to become a visual or a literary artist. In 1768 he suffered a hemorrhage and returned home. He stayed there for some time to recover. During this time he had contact with Katharina von Klettenburg and her pietist circle, and he engaged in pansophical reading.

In 1770, Goethe resumed his studies in Strasbourg. During this time he met Johann Gottfried Herder, who inspired him to read Pindar, Shakespeare, Homer and Ossian. Herder referred to the expression of experience as the origin of the poetry in her works. He also introduced Goethe to his new conception of creativity, his developmental thinking and his program of folk poetry. In 1771 Goethe received his doctorate in law and returned to Frankfurt am Main. There he was admitted to the jury court as an advocate. Goethe devoted himself not only to his literary works, but also to his acquaintances, such as J. H. Stilling, J.M. Lenz, Johann Heinrich Merck and others around the Darmstadt court. In May 1772 he completed a few months of internship at the Imperial Chamber Court in Wetzlar. These years were crucial in Goethe's development, during which poems such as "Wanderer's Storm Song" and "Mahomet's Song" were written. In 1774 his epistolary novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" was published, which made him famous worldwide. After his broken engagement to the banker's daughter Elisabeth Schönemann, he traveled to Switzerland in 1776.

In the same year he accepted an invitation from Duke Karl August of Saxony-Weimar to Weimar. There Goethe became a privy legation councilor in 1776 and three years later a privy councilor and thus a member of the government. In 1782 Goethe was ennobled by Emperor Joseph II. In the same year he took over the management of the Finance Chamber. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe developed into a classical poet through the new ideal of the active person; The relationship with Charlotte Stein also contributed to this. Goethe's conception was characterized by the clarity of form, the control of passions and organic self-development. Poems such as "Limits of Humanity", "To the Moon" and "Wanderer's Night Song" were created. Goethe wrote the play "Iphigenie auf Tauris" (1787) and the bildungsroman "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship", the original of which, entitled "Wilhelm Meister's Theatrical Mission", dates from 1785. At the beginning of the 1880s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe concentrated on scientific research.

In 1784 he discovered the human premaxilla and developed his own method of morphological observation. Goethe's professional activities not only left him little time for his literary muses, they actually restricted him. In 1786 he began his famous journey to classical Italy, the land of art - as an escape from the Germans' everyday civic duties. There he completed his two works "Egmont" and "Torquato Tasso", the "Roman Elegies" were drafted and the "Iphigenia from Tauris" was reworked into blank verse. In 1788 Goethe returned to Weimar. In the same year he met Christiane Vulpius, his future wife. In the period from 1791 to 1817 he was heavily involved in the court theater, which he helped to develop an important stage art. In 1790 the scientific treatise "Metamorphosis of Plants" was written and work on "color theory" began. In the same year, Goethe set off on his second trip to Italy, which he processed in the "Venetian Epigrams". Two years later he undertook a trip to France, the experiences of which he expressed in the "Campagne in France" (published in 1822).

In 1794 he met Friedrich von Schiller, which resulted in one of the most fruitful relationships in German literary history. Goethe worked on Schiller's magazine "Die Horen" and on the "Museum Almanac". In 1795 he published the "Entertainments of German Emigrants", the ballad "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "The God and the Bajadere". A comprehensive correspondence between Goethe and Schiller was an expression of their deep friendship. It is a witness to their intellectual positions. In the years 1795 and 1796 Goethe gave his final version of an educational novel "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Years". In 1797 his work "Hermann and Dorothea" was edited. In the tragic trilogy "The Natural Daughter" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reacted to the French Revolution. His main literary work included the first part of "Faust", which he completed in 1806. In the same year he married Christiane Vulpius. Friedrich Schiller died the year before. The work "Winckelmann and his Century", published in 1805, is one of Goethe's numerous writings in which he commented on art and art history; Likewise, for example, the work "Art and Antiquity", which he wrote between 1816 and 1832.

In 1808 Napoleon met him. Goethe's novel "The Elective Affinities" was published in 1809, in which he incorporated a late love experience with Minna Herzlieb in the character of Otilien. He wrote the "Sonnets" for them in 1815. Goethe's theory of colors was published in 1810. He was also inspired by his encounter with Marianne von Willemer in the design of his "West-Eastern Divan" from 1819, which is considered his great lyrical late work. Goethe's treatises on contemporary natural sciences were expressed in the title "On Natural Science" from 1820. His affection for the young Ulrike von Levetzow, whom he met in Marienbad in 1823, was reflected in the "Marienbad Elegy". His famous late work includes the second part of the universal drama "Faust".

Goethe gave biographical reviews in his works "The Italian Journey" from the years 1816 and 1817, and "Poetry and Truth", written between 1811 and 1814 and 1833. With Johann Peter Eckermann, the poet wrote his forty-volume "Complete Edition last hand" in the period from 1827 to 1831. Goethe's world fame as a writer, poet, philosopher and natural scientist was based not least on his unique experiential poetry, his unheard-of linguistic power, his organic view of nature and his restlessly striving and fighting character as well as his pronounced humanism.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died on March 22, 1832 in Weimar.

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