Gottfried August Bürger

Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah)

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 31 Dec 1747
Died 8 Jun 1794
Activity 1767-1794

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Poet
Translator

Resources

Bürger's Works

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Gottfried August Bürger ranks – together with Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart and Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz – among the great lyrical poets during the brief creative outburst of young German writers between 1767 and 1786 known as

Sturm und Drang

. The epoch brought a wealth of aesthetic innovation as well as a turn toward popular subject matter and tone, often accompanied by a critique of absolutism and the oppression of the many by the ruling few. Bürger is one of the pioneers of the

Kunstballade

(lyrical ballad), a new form of action poetry in Germany which derived inspiration from the centuries-old, orally transmitted

Volksballade

(folk ballad) and a major impetus both from Johann Gottfried Herder’s championship of folk poetry and the rapidly growing influence of…

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2392 words

Citation: Knapp, Gerhard P.. "Gottfried August Bürger". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 December 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5443, accessed 23 November 2024.]