Johann von Goethe's Influential Poetry

Posted by Drageda on September 10, 2009

A Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quiz should be of interest to anyone who has an interest in literature, as he is easily one of the most important literary figures of the last five hundred years, and is in fact lauded by many as being only behind figures like Shakespeare and Chaucer in his overall importance to the literary field.  He was a German writer, and was alive from 1879-1832, and is most famous for his work, Faust. 

It is important to note when considering Johann Wolfgang von Goethe trivia that, although Faust remains his most influential and most important work, he was a prolific writer in many genres, and many of his other works, especially his poetry, are also extremely important parts of the German literary Cannon. Other well known books include Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Johann von Goethe quiz questions that extend beyond the commonly known facts about him might mention that, in addition to being a novelist and poet, he also wrote extensively in a variety of scientific fields, and is credited by many as being one of the direct influences on Charles Darwin.

German philosophy in the years following von Goethe is thought by many who study in the field to be among the most important periods in the development of thought. He was seen as a direct influence upon many of the most important figures in that movement, including Hegel. However, von Goethe himself did not directly practice philosophy, but instead allowed his other writing to carry forth the concepts and principles that he had pondered or discovered.

His political involvements began early on. After becoming a lawyer (which would become a short career) he was offered a position with the French government, though he turned the position down. He would later end up becoming a political figure, in a sense, in his native Germany during the years he served as the Privy Councilor for the Duchy of Weimar.

A good piece of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe trivia is the exploration of how many sciences he studied and wrote in. He worked in the fields of plants, animals, meteorology, and color. Among those, he considered the work on color to be the most important.  The physiological effects of various colors on the human body is now a well known part of many medical studies, but the concept of these effects and its scientific study began with von Goethe.