Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG
VON (ge'te) a famous German poet,
dramatist, and prose writer, the regenerator
of German literature; born in
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, Aug.
28, 1749. His father was a counsellor of
state, and young Goethe was reared amid
all the elements conducive to a taste for,
and cultivation of, literature and the arts,.
In 1764 he proceeded to the University of
Leipsic, and four years afterward to that
of Strassburg, in order to qualify himself
for the legal profession. In 1771, after
taking his doctor's degree, he went to
reside at Wetzlar. Here, in 1773, he
produced his romantic drama of “Goetz of
Berlichingen,” which excited great
enthusiasm in the German literary world.
About this time he conceived a passion
for a lady who was already betrothed,
and who shortly after became the wife of
another; which incident, together with
the suicide of a student of his acquaintance
— also a sufferer from misplaced
affection — he fused together to form the
plot of a novel, which, in 1774, he brought
out under the title of “The Sufferings of
Young Werther.” This book, in its
sublimity of maudlin sentimentalism, became
at once the rage. In 1775 Goethe was
invited by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar to
take up his residence at his court. At
Weimar he became the central figure of
a circle of eminent men that included
Wieland, Schiller, and Herder. Goethe
was also appointed a privy councillor of
legation and superintendent of the
theater, where he brought out with thorough
effect the splendid chefs-d'œuvre of Schiller,
in addition to his own dramatic
works — “Goetz of Berlichingen,”
“Iphigenia in Tauris,” “Faust,” “Tasso,”
“Clavigo,” “Stella,” and “Egmont.” In
1786 he visited Italy, where he remained
for two years, and in 1792, accompanied
the army of the King of Prussia and the
Duke of Brunswick in its French
campaign, of which he became the
historiographer.
On his return, Goethe was
appointed minister of state. In 1795
appeared the first part of his “William
Meister,” and in 1797 “Hermann and
Dorothea,” the finest of his minor
productions. In 1805 the first portion of his
great masterpiece, “Faust,” appeared
and raised him to the highest rank of
literary fame. In 1807, the Czar Alexander
of Russia conferred on Goethe the
order of St. Alexander Newski — an
example followed by Napoleon with the
grand cross of the Legion of Honor. In
1809 appeared his “Elective Affinities,” a
work in which he advanced certain views
on the marital relation which disgusted
the moralists. The year 1818 beheld the
second part of his “William Meister,”
the “Wandering Years,” and in 1831, the
second part of “Faust.” Goethe died in
Weimar, March 22, 1832.