German Romantic poetry is both fluid and formed, and it is full of song: the poems themselves are often intrinsically lyrical, and many of them inspired some of the best-known musical compositions of the nineteenth century. In this collection, we see German Romantic poets confronting life's greatest moments and greatest challenges - love, loss, death - and producing beautiful, and sometimes witty, works in response. Admiration for nature, in for particular the dramatic forests which still cover large areas of Germany, is also prominent in their work.
Characters from myth and folklore abound too, most famously Lorelei, an enchantress who is associated with the River Rhine, and who features in several poems in this volume. Gathered here are favourites such as Goethe's 'Erl King', Eichendorff's 'Night of Moon', Heine's 'In May, the magic month of May', along with works by some of the most famous women writers of the period, Sophie Mereau, Karoline von Günderrode and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. The works have been recreated in English verse by a range of poets and scholars