Dromo's Den

[Up] [Dromo's Den]

Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau Biography

Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau Image

HOFMANNSWALDAU, Christian Hofmann von (1617-79). A German poet, born in Breslau; the chief representative of the so-called second Silesian school. He studied law at Leyden and then traveled through the Netherlands, England, France, and Italy. On his return, and before he had reached the required age, he was made a member of the Breslau city council. His poetry was greatly influenced by the Italians Guarini and Marino and departed more and more from the somewhat insipid and tasteless style of the previously authoritative Martin Opitz (q.v.) Witty and endowed with considerable literary skill, he was much admired; his love lyrics were often imitated, and many editions of them were published. His style is pompous, bombastic, and highly artificial. Although of clean reputation himself, his poems cannot boast of that virtue. Selections from his poems are given in Vol. xxxvi of Kürschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur. Consult: Josef Ettlinger, Christian Hofmann yon Hofmannswaldau (Halle, 1891); Brossmann, Hofmann on Hofmannswaldau (Leipzig, 1900); P. Hintringer, Sprach- und textgeschichtliche Studien zu H. von H. (Breslau, 1908).