Daniel Casper von Lohenstein

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born 25 Jan 1635
Died 28 Apr 1683
Activity 1650-1683

Places

Born in Poland
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Resources

von Lohenstein's Works

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Although certainly a Baroque poet and part of the well-known Silesian school, Daniel Casper von Lohenstein produced plays that clearly move beyond the traditional Christian orientation and the tendency to allegorize as commonly pursued by his contemporaries – such as Andreas Gryphius and Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau. His texts were deeply influenced by the contemporary classicist French drama and by ancient Roman literary material, in particular by Seneca. Lohenstein had no difficulties to move beyond the standard alexandrine verse meter, especially when his protagonists voiced profound emotional turmoil, freely employing different metrical patterns as seemed more convenient. Often his dramas are determined by extreme forms of violence, and also by a very detailed grounding in…

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2963 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Daniel Casper von Lohenstein". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 October 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11838, accessed 23 November 2024.]