Herder and Klopstock (Classic Reprint) - Paperback

Excerpt from Herder and Klopstock

It is difficult to understand the whole creative and classical period of German literature without taking into consideration Klopstock's significant position in its history and the powerful influence he exerted upon its greatest personalities. His wonderful originating powers brought forth a new ideal of humanity, the influence of which has been felt in all succeeding periods; his thoughts, and the language he clothed them in, may be traced in the works of Germany's greatest masters.

The chief aim of the present work has been to present in a new light the relation of Klopstock to Herder, one of his great contemporaries, whose genius aided in causing to grow and flourish the seed sown by the poet. The first part resolves itself into an objective treatment of the personal relations of the two men, of Herder's knowledge of Klopstock's works, and of his critical estimate of them. In the second part an attempt has been made to show how the spirit of the new world of ideas, as created by Klopstock, found sympathetic response in Herder, and how it in turn received expression in his own life and works. The last chapter attempts to present the source of Klopstock's new poetical language; by means of a comparison with Herder's language, it aims to give a more detailed presentation of the intellectual world of the two men.

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