Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

German poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. He is generally considered the founder of modern German literature, and was the leader of the Romantic Sturm und Drang movement. His masterpiece is the poetic play Faust (1808 and 1832). His other works include the partly autobiographical Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers/The Sorrows of the Young Werther (1774); the classical dramas Iphigenie auf Tauris/Iphigenia in Tauris (1787), Egmont (1788), and Torquato Tasso (1790); the Wilhelm Meister novels (1795–1829); the short novel Die Wahlverwandschaften/Elective Affinities (1809); and scientific treatises including Farbenlehre/Treatise on Colour (1810).

Goethe was born in Frankfurt-am-Main, and studied law. Inspired by Shakespeare, to whose work he was introduced by the critic J G von Herder, he wrote the play Götz von Berlichingen (1773), heralding the Sturm und Drang movement. The inspiration for Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers came from an unhappy love affair. He took part in public life at the court of Duke Charles Augustus in Weimar 1775–86, and pursued his interests in scientific research. A year and a half spent in Italy 1786–88 was a period of great development for Goethe, when he outgrew the Sturm und Drang movement and worked towards the Greek ideal of calm and harmony.

The publication of Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre/Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1795–96) established Goethe's enduring fame throughout Europe. Faust, written in the intervals between other work, over a period of more than 50 years, reflects the evolution of Goethe's own thinking and character, from youth to age. The two parts of the work are as dissimilar as the influences under which they were written, the first being romantic, the second classical in form and spirit.