Roman Elegies

And Other Poems and Epigrams

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) is mainly known to the English-speaking world as the author of the poetic drama "Faust". In Europe – as poet, dramatist, novelist, art critic, literary theoretician, travel writer, author of a treatise on light and colour, and prolific correspondent – he is regarded as the supreme Romantic literary figure. This selection is a classic introduction to one of the giants of European literature. It collects all the beautifully crafted versions Michael Hamburger has made over many years from all periods of Goethe's creative life, adding more than twenty new poems to "Poems and Epigrams" (1983), and including a complete version of Goethe's erotic masterpiece, the "Roman Elegies". The critical introduction provides a valuable account of a writer who was, in the words of his translator, "so many-sided as to constitute a whole literature".

About the Author

Goethe was born in Frankfurt and studied law in Leipzig and Strasbourg. He practised briefly in Frankfurt. The success of "The Sorrows of Young Werther" brought him to Weimar in 1775, to the court of Carl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who became Grand Duke in 1815. Goethe was based there from then on and held a succession of posts, becoming the Duke's chief adviser.

Back to the list of books