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BURGER, GOTTFRIED AUGUST (1748-1794)
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See also:BURGER, GOTTFRIED See also:AUGUST (1748-1794) , See also:German poet, was See also:born on the 1st of See also:January 1748 at Molmerswende near See also:Halberstadt, of which See also:village his See also:father was the Lutheran pastor: He was a backward See also:child, and at the See also:age of twelve was practically adopted by his maternal grandfather, See also:Bauer, at See also:Aschersleben, who sent him to the Pddagogium at See also:Halle. Hence in 1764 he passed to the university, as a student of See also:theology, which, however, he soon abandoned for the study of See also:jurisprudence. Here he See also:fell under the See also:influence of C. A. See also:Klotz (1738-1771), who directed Burger's See also:attention to literature, but encouraged rather than discouraged his natural disposition to a See also:wild and unregulated See also:life. In consequence of his dissipated habits, he was in 1767 recalled by his grandfather, but on promising to reform was in 1768 allowed to enter the university of See also:Gottingen as a See also:law student. As he continued his wild career, however, his grandfather withdrew his support and he was See also:left to his own devices. Meanwhile he had made See also:fair progress with his legal studies, and had the See also:good See also:fortune to See also:form a See also:close friend-See also:ship with a number of See also:young men of See also:literary tastes. In the Gottingen Musenalmanach, edited by H. See also:Boie and F. W. See also:Gotter, Burger's first poems were published, and by 1771 he had already become widely known as a poet. In 1772, through Boie's influence, Burger obtained the See also:post of " Amtmann " or See also:district See also:magistrate at Altengleichen near Gottingen. His grandfather was now reconciled to him, paid his debts and established him in his new See also:sphere of activity. Meanwhile he kept in See also:touch with his Gottingen See also:friends, and when the " Gottinger Bund " or " Hain " was formed, Burger, though not himself a member, kept in close touch with it. In 1773 the ballad Lenore was published in the Musenalmanach. This poem, which in dramatic force and in its vivid realization of the weird and supernatural remains without a See also:rival, made his name a See also:household word in See also:Germany. In 1774 Burger married Dorette Leonhart, the daughter of a Hanoverian See also:official; but his See also:passion for his wife's younger See also:sister Auguste (the " Molly " of his poems and elegies) rendered the See also:union unhappy and unsettled his life. In 1778 Burger became editor of the Musenalmanach, and in the same See also:year published the first collection of his poems. In 178o he took a See also:farm at Appenrode, but in three years lost so much See also:money that he had to abandon the venture. Pecuniary troubles oppressed him, and being accused of neglecting his official duties, and feeling his See also:honour attacked, he gave up his official position and removed in 1784 to Gottingen, where he established himself as Privat-docent. Shortly before his removal thither his wife died (30th of See also:July 1784), and on the 29th of See also:June in the next year he married his sister-in-law " Molly." Her See also:death on the 9th of January 1786 affected him deeply. He appeared to lose at once all courage and all bodily and See also:mental vigour. He still continued to See also:teach in Gottingen; at the See also:jubilee of the See also:foundation of the university in 1787 he was made an honorary See also:doctor of See also:philosophy, and in 1789 was appointed extraordinary See also:professor in that See also:faculty, though without a See also:stipend. In the following year he married a third See also:time, his wife being a certain Elise See also:Hahn, who, enchanted with his poems, had offered him her See also:heart and See also:hand. Only a few See also:weeks of married life with his " Schwabenmadchen " sufficed to prove his See also:mistake, and after two and a See also:half years he divorced her. Deeply wounded by See also:Schiller's See also:criticism, in the 14th and 15th See also:part of the Allgeme2ne Literaturzeitung of 1791, of the 2nd edition of his poems, disappointed, wrecked in fortune and See also:health, Burger eked out a See also:precarious existence as a teacher in Gottingen until his death there on the 8th of June 1794. Burger's See also:character, in spite of his utter want of moral See also:balance, was not lacking in See also:noble and lovable qualities. He was honest in purpose, generous to a See also:fault, See also:tender-hearted and modest. His See also:talent for popular See also:poetry was very considerable, and his See also:ballads are among the finest in the German See also:language. Besides Lenore, Das Lied vom braven Manne, See also:Die Kuh, Der Kaiser and der See also:Abt and Der See also:wilde See also:Jager are famous. Among his purely lyrical poems, but few have earned a lasting reputation; but mention may be made of Das Bliimchen Wunderhold, Lied an den lieben See also:Mond, and a few love songs. His sonnets, particularly the elegies, are of See also:great beauty. See also:Editions of Burger's Samtliche Schriften appeared at Gottingen, 1817 (incomplete) ; 1829–1833 (8 vols.), and 1835 (one vol.) ; also a selection by E. Grisebach (5th ed., 1894). The Gedichte have been published in innumerable editions, the best being that by A. Sauer (2 vols., 1884). Briefe von and an Burger were edited by A. Strodtmann in 4 vols. (1874). On Burger's life see the See also:biography by H. PNihle (1856), the introduction to Sauer's edition of the poems, and W. von Wurzbach, G. A. Burger (1900). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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