Johann
Wolfgang
von Goethe
  
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749 in Frankfurt. From 1765 to 1771 he studied law in Leibzig and Strasbourg on request of his father.  During his time at university he already earned recognition with his poems and lyric.  When he returned to Frankfurt he practised law and worked on his career as a poet and writer.  In 1773 the Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisenen Hand was published, making Goethe a main representative for the Sturm und Drang movement.  Getting a lot of attention and recognition by the literature world, Goethe is invited to Weimar, where he took over many different political offices, but still managed to concentrate on writing.

Beside his literature ambitions, he was also very interested in science, which was more important to him, than his writing.  From 1786 to 1790 he travelled through Italy where he undertook more scientific researches.  In 1794 he befriended Friedrich Schiller with whom he developed a new style of writing, which is now known as its own literature epoch, the Weimarer Klassik.

In 1908 Goethe finished Faust, between 1811-14 he wrote his autobiography and in 1831 he finished Faust 2, which was published posthumously.  Goethe used and explored many different styles in literature and turned out to be an important personality to the world of literature.
  

  

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We must not hope to be mowers,
And to gather the ripe old ears,
Unless we have first been sowers
And watered the furrows with tears.
It is not just as we take it,
This mystical world of ours,
Life's field will yield as we make it
A harvest of thorns or of flowers.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe