Herder, Johann Gottfried

Johann Gottfried (1744-1803), a German poet, critic, and thinker. He was the son of a poor schoolmaster. He worked his way through the University of Konigsberg. He held various positions as a tutor, teacher, and pastor. Through the influence of Goethe he was invited to accept a position as court preacher at Weimar. He was a man of profound thought and intense patriotism,--one who had a wondrous quickening influence on those whom he met. He lived at a time when Germans looked up to France in literature as well as in politics. He was one of a small group of men who succeeded in making the Germans believe for the first time that they had as much mental ability as the French. He wrote poems and essays. He criticised the literary productions of his day, showing his countrymen that what was written in imitation of French writers was worthless, and the really good bits of literature that had appeared treated German subjects in a German way. His masterpiece is considered Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind. The Stuttgart edition of his complete works runs into sixty volumes. His is one of the great names in the history of German thought, not so much for felicity of expression, for his writing is faulty and awkward, as for his influence on younger men. Even Goethe said that the very sight of Herder's handwriting set him on to be up and doing.