Klopstock

Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb (1724-1803), one of the fathers of German literature, was born in Saxony. Having read with deep interest Paradise Lost, he devoted his life to the composition of a German religious epic, which was to be its complement. The Messiah was begun while he was a theological student at Leipzig, the first three cantos being published in 1748 in the Bremische Beitrage. He was enabled to continue it at his leisure when, in 1751, he was given a pension by Frederick of Denmark. During his twenty years' residence at Copenhagen he finished the great work, which was received with enthusiasm throughout Germany. Chief among his other works were a trilogy on Hermann, the national hero of Germany, and some odes.