Poet, dramatist, and scientist, born in Frankfurt, Germany. He studied law at Leipzig and Strasbourg, came under the influence of Herder, and became interested in alchemy, anatomy, and the antiquities. He returned to Frankfurt as a newspaper critic, and captured the spirit of German nationalism with his drama, Gštz von Berlichingen (1773), following this with his novel Die Leiden des jungen Werther (1774, The Sorrows of Young Werther). In 1776 he accepted a post in the court of the Duke of Weimar, where he studied a variety of scientific subjects. He wrote much lyric poetry at this time, inspired by his relationships with a series of women, culminating in a profound attachment to Charlotte von Stein. Visits to Italy (1786--8, 1790) contributed to a greater preoccupation with poetical form, seen in such plays as Iphigenie auf Tauris (1789) and Torquato Tasso (1790). His love for classical Italy, coupled with his passion for Christiane Vulpius, whom he married in 1806, was expressed in the poems Ršmische Elegien (1795, Roman Elegies). In his later years he wrote Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1796, Wilhelm Meister's Apprentice Years), continued as Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre (1821--9, Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years). His masterpiece is his version of Faust, on which he worked for most of his life, published in two parts (1808, 1832).