RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Klopstock Klostermann
language. This work fell far below expectations, as Goethe tells in the twelfth book of his Dichtung und Wahrheit. In 1779 there appeared the Fragmente iiber Sprache und Dichtkunst and in the following year the definitive edition of the Messias. Klopstock's last years were passed in a leisurely activity, devoted to the composition of odes and the preparation of an edition of his collected works. The outbreak of the French Revolution aroused his enthusiasm and he was honored with the citizenship of the French Republic, but the excesses of. the later revolutionists were learned with horror and anger. In 1791 he married Frau von Winthem (nee Dimpfri), a niece of his first wife. He had no children. Among his last productions are several epigrams directed against the Kantian philosophy.
It was Klopstock who, to quote Platen, gave new life to the German language and liberated it from the thraldom of the French. Poesy became
the beautiful and noble expression of
4. His In- the artist's soul finding full satisfaction
fluence and in the sincere formulation of the prob-
Importance. lems that beset it. This has been the
main characteristic of German poetry since the time of Klopstock and only they have achieved and retained primacy who have remained faithful to it. Klopstock's joyous and enthusiastic nature found its most grateful expression in the national and sacred song. Whenever he wanders outside of these realms he falls beneath his own level. If the great period in German literature that followed him may be characterized as being marked by a successful assimilation of national poetic elements with foreign elements of ancient and modern times, Klopstock must be regarded as the one who ushered in this new era. The one quality that he possessed above his contemporaries was the element of Germanic patriotism which evinced itself in his life and thought. He is Germanic in the delight he takes in tales of heroic deeds and in nature, home, and love ; Germanic above all in that passionate longing for salvation which is the great inheritance of the German people. His admiration of the heroic finds utterance in odes like Kaiser Heinrich, Mein Vaterland, Hermann und Thusnelda, Heinrich der Vogler, Die beiden Musen, Die Konigin Luise. His love of nature speaks in the Bardale, Zilrichersee, Friedensburg, Rheinwein, Das Bosenband, Die tote Clarissa. A mighty current of faith pulsates in such odes as An Gott, Dem Erloser, Der Erbarmer, Das grosse Hallelujah, as well as in his magnificent hymn of the Resurrection. This confidence in the Savior reveals itself in the certain hope of a rising from the dead and of an eternal life, and Klopstock is the poet of the future life primarily. When Gervinus in his life characterises the Messias as "an unbroken succession of monstrous errors " he has overlooked this great fact. At the same time he has failed to recognize the essential weakness of the poem which consists in this, that an individual here attempts to create an epic where the necessary conditions and presuppositions are absent. A national epic can arise only on the basis of a common national life and the poet in this case becomes only the mouthpiece as is the case with the Heliand. A " poetic VI.— 23
invention " such as Klopstock resorts to in his creation of a Christian mythology is fatal to the epic story from the very beginning, since the true epic poet finds his activity not in creation but in narration of traditional facts; as far as diction is concerned it must be the simple language of the people. Judged by these standards, the Messias as an epic is a failure. But on the other hand it must not be denied the merit of having disseminated throughout the European world, this joyous message of salvation free from all dogmatic and credal restrictions. Klopstock's most unsuccessful attempt was his recasting of the old hymns of the Church which, in their utter lack of sympathy for an objective world and a consciousness of nationality, proved ungrateful material for his talents. On the other hand what he excelled in was his knowledge of classical antiquity and especially of the poetry of the Greeks.
His works first appeared in Leipsic, 7 vols., 1798-
1810, but not in complete form till 1844-45, 11
vols.; his correspondence appeared in 3 vols, at
Stuttgart, 1839-40. There are numerous editions of
all or part of his works; e.g. Oden (Stuttgart, 1889;
Eng. transl., London, 1848). Of Messias, on which
his fame rests, an Eng. transl. appeared in 4 vols.
at Hamburg, 1821-22. (A. Feeybe.)
Bibliography: C. F. Cramer, Klopstock, 2 vols., Hamburg,
1777-78; idem, Klopstock, Er; und iiber ihn, 5 vols., ib.,
1780-92; J. M. H. Doring, Klopstocks Leben, Weimar,
1825; J. W. Lobell, Die Bntwickelung der deutschen Poesie
vor Klopstock's erstem Auftreten bis zu Goethes Tod, 3 vols.,
Brunswick, 1856—65; R. Hamel, Klopstockstudien, Rostock,
1879-80; K. Heinemann, Klopstocks Leben und Werke,
Bielefeld, 1890; F. Muncker, Klopstock, Geschichte seines
Lebens und seiner Schriften, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1900; Julian,
Hymnology, pp. 625-626.
KLOSTERMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH: German Protestant; b. at Steinhude (15 m. w.n.w. of Hanover) May 16, 1837 He studied in Erlangen and Berlin 1855-58, and was assistant pastor in Buckeburg until 1864. From 1864 to 1868 he was tutor and privat-docent at Gottingen, and since 1868 has been professor of Old-Testament exegesis in Kiel. He has written: Vindicce Lucance (Gottingen, 1866); Das Markusevangelium nach seinem Quellenwerte fur die evangelische Geschichte (1867); Untersuchung zur alttestamentlichen Theologie (Gotha, 1868); Korrekturen zur bisherigen Erkldrung des Romerbriefes (1881); Die Gemutsstimmungen der Christen in Rbmer v. 1-11 (Kiel, 1881); Ueber deutsche Art bei Martin Luther (1884); Die Gottesfurcht als Hauptstiick der Weisheit (1885); Die Bucher Samuelis und der Konige ausgelegt (Nordlingen, 1887); Zur Theorie der biblischen Weissagung und zur Charakteristik des Hebrderbriefes (1889); Der Pentateuch, Beitrdge zu seinem Verstdndnis und seiner Entstehungsgeschichte (Leipsic, 1893); Deuterojesaia, hebrdisch und deutsch (Munich, 1893); Geschichte des Volkes Israel bis zur Restauration unter Esra und Nehemia (1896); Ein diplomatischer Briefwechsel aus dem zweiten Jahrtausend vor Christo (Kiel, 1898); Deuteronomium und Grdgds (1900) ; and Schulwesen im alten Israel, (Leipsic, 1908).
KLOSTERMANN, kles'ter-mon, ERICH: German Protestant; b. at Kiel Feb. 14, 1870. He
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