Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) was born on August 28, 1749, in the city of Frankfurt, in the Germany. Later, he had great success as a writer from the moment he published his novel The Sufferings of Young Werther. In addition, he sat on the Weimar state council and was Minister of Education and Culture.
The poet, who died on March 22, 1832, in Weimar, was the main representative of the romanticism German. His texts, therefore, have a subjective character, in addition to idealizing love and women. His most famous work, however, is the tragedy Faust, which takes a realistic look at the human species.
See too: Lord Byron — one of the most important writers of European romanticism
Topics of this article
- 1 - Biography of Goethe
- 2 - Characteristics of Goethe's work
-
3 - Works by Goethe
- → Theater
- → Novels
- → Epic Poems
- → Poetry
- 4 - Analysis of the work Faust, by Goethe
- 5 - Poems by Goethe
- 6 - Phrases by Goethe
Biography of Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 in Frankfurt, Germany. He
grew up in a prosperous family of the German bourgeois elite. He therefore did not have to face financial problems in his life. He and his sister were educated by their father and several tutors, who taught them culture, science, religion and art.In addition, his house had a vast library, which allowed the author, from an early age, to get to know literary classics. Around the age of four, he had his first contact with the theater when he was given a puppet theater by his grandmother. Even as a child, he was enchanted with the pieces of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).
But, despite his obvious vocation for literature, he was forced by his father to go to college Dright at the University of Leipzig from 1766. However, the course was interrupted around 1768, when the poet fell ill and had to return to his father's house. So, in 1770, Goethe moved to Strasbourg to finish his college.
Four years later, in 1774, published his novel The Sufferings of Young Werther and the literary success was immediate. Goethe became famous throughout Germany. At the invitation of the Duke of Weimar, he decided to live in that city. In Weimar he became a member of the state council.
And he also fell in love with a married woman: Charlotte von Stein (1742-1827). Years later, in 1786, he went to live in Italy. He returned to Germany in 1788 and fell in love with a factory worker: Johanna Christiane Sophie Vulpius (1765-1816), with whom he had a son in 1789. The following year, he became Weimar's Minister of Education and Culture. It was only in 1807 that he married Johanna, as he was forced, in 1792, to participate in the Battle of Valmy, against the French.
His fame as a writer lasted until the end of his life.. The writer died on March 22, 1832, in Weimar, after completing the writing of the second part of his masterpiece: Faust.
Characteristics of Goethe's work
goethe was one of the founders of the movementGerman Storm and Rush (which valued the return to nature), responsible for the emergence of romanticism, a period style in which the author's works are inserted, which have these characteristics:
individualism;
subjectivism;
idealism;
cult of freedom;
social criticism;
idealized love;
idealized woman;
valuation of the past.
However, in the course of his life, he came to criticize the excess of romantic sentimentality, valuing more realistic elements, without, however, breaking away from romanticism.
works by Goethe
→ Theater
lover's whim (1768)
the accomplices (1769)
Götz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand (1771)
clavigo (1774)
Faust Zero (1775)
Stella (1775)
egmont (1775)
Iphigenia in Tauride (1779)
Torquato Tasso (1780)
natural daughter (1803)
Faust I (1806)
Faust II (1832)
→ Novels
The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774)
The Learning Years of Wilhelm Meister (1796)
The elective affinities (1809)
Novel (1827)
→ Epic Poems
Reineke-Raposo (1793)
Hermann and Doroteia (1797)
→ Poetry
east-west divan (1819)
Analysis of the work Faust, by Goethe
![Cover of the book “Faust”, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published by 34.[1]](/f/dfb4d631dab09c1b58362ed489001cc6.jpg)
Faust is a dramatic text by Goethe. In this work, the character Mephistopheles (the devil) bets God that Faust has a price for his soullike any other human. So Mephistopheles makes a deal with Faust: he will grant his every wish in exchange for his servitude after death.
The pact sealed — Faust signs a document with his own blood —, Mephistopheles and Faust become inseparable. Through the action of a sorceress, the hero manages to rejuvenate. Even so, he is rejected by a girl named Margarida. To conquer the young woman, he resorts once more to Mephistopheles.
Their romance is surrounded by tragedy. Daisy's mother is poisoned by a potion given by her daughter's lover. The young woman's brother, Valentim, is killed by Fausto during a fight. Margarida is arrested after drowning the son she had with Fausto. He then goes to her aid, but the girl prefers to remain imprisoned.
Finally, Faust follows in the company of Mephistopheles, and manages to free the mythological Helen of Troy from Hades. With her, he has a son: Eufórion, representative of the union of two cultures, from two different times.
At the end, the hero surrenders to regret. After his death, Mephistopheles claims his soul, but is stopped by angels. Those angels take Faust to Paradise.
Read too: José de Alencar — one of the main representatives of romanticism in Brazil
Goethe's Poems
“The King of the Elves”|1| is one of Goethe's best-known narrative poems. In this work, written in 1782, a frightened son believes he sees and hears the King of the Elves, who invites the child to go with him. The father does not believe what the son tells him, until the King of the Elves takes the boy's life:
king of elves
Who rides so late, through night and wind?
The father, who his son hugs to his chest,
Hold the boy tight
And his embrace protects him from the cold,
“My son, do you hide your afflicted face?”
“Do you not see, my father, the King of the Elves?
The King of Elves, crown and tail?”
"My son, it's just a cloud off the coast"
[...]
“Good boy, do you want to come with me?
My daughters will watch over you,
At night, the Rhine do follow,
Rocking you, they will sing and dance
[...]
“I love your grace and your forms excite me;
but if you don't want to, then it's by force!
“My father, my father, he has now caught me,
The Elf King has hurt me!”
The father gallops swiftly in horror,
Embrace the groaning child to your chest.
With eagerness and haste, he reaches the village.
She had her lifeless son in her arms.
The poem “Critico”|2|, from 1774, in a rather ironic way, belittles the figure of the critic:
Critical
A dear visit has arrived
That to me was not a parasite.
gorged on food,
Reveled in the drink,
From dessert to finish he did it.
Neighbor at the behest of the Devil,
When I finished my supper,
He reasoned with his mouth full:
“The soup lacked cumin,
The raw roast, sour the wine.”
"Eat the damned crumb!"
He's a critic. Death to the scoundrel!
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
Goethe's Phrases
Below are some phrases by Goethe, taken from his works Faust It is Iphigenia in Tauride:
“The poor never suspect the devil, even if he has them by the throat.”
“He who knows how to seize the moment, he is the wise one.”
“Any man who walks can get lost.”
“He Trust in himself and he will know how to live.”
“A useless life is an early death.”
Grades
|1| GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. The king of the elves. Translation by Nelson da Silva Junior. Transformations in Psychology, v. 4, p. 137-138, 2012.
|2| GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Critical. Translation by Wagner Schadeck. Newspaper Option, 28 Jan. 2017.
image credit
[1] publisher 34 (reproduction)
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