- Ewald Christian von Kleist
Ewald Christian von Kleist (
March 7 ,1715 –August 24 ,1759 ) was a Germanpoet and officer.Life
Kleist was born at Zeblin, near Köslin (Koszalin) in
Pomerania , to thevon Kleist family of cavalry leaders. After attending the Jesuit school in Deutschkrona and theDanzig Gymnasium , he proceeded in 1731 to theUniversity of Königsberg , where he studiedlaw andmathematics . On the completion of his studies, he entered the Danish army, in which he became an officer in 1736. Recalled to Prussia by King Frederick II in 1740, he was appointed lieutenant in a regiment stationed atPotsdam , where he became acquainted withJ. W. L. Gleim , who interested him in poetry.After distinguishing himself at the
Battle of Mollwitz (April 10 ,1741 ) and the siege of Neisse (1741), he was promoted to captain in 1749 and major in 1756. Quartered during the winter of 1757-1758 in Leipzig during theSeven Years' War , he found relief from his irksome military duties in the society ofGotthold Ephraim Lessing . Shortly afterwards in thebattle of Kunersdorf , onAugust 12 1759 , he was mortally wounded in the forefront of the attack, and died atFrankfurt (Oder) on the24 August 1759 .Poetry
Kleist's chief work is a poem in
hexameter s, "Der Frühling" (1749), for which Thomson's "Seasons" largely supplied ideas. It earned him the nickname "the Poet of the Spring." In his description of the beauties of nature Kleist shows real poetical genius, an almost modern sentiment and fine taste. He also wrote some charming odes, idylls and elegies, and a small epic poem "Cissides und Paches" (1759), the subject being twoThessalia n friends who die an heroic death for their country in a battle against the Athenians. Likewise he composed epitaphs for his many friends who were killed in battle, such as Major Heinrich von Blumenthal.Kleist published in 1756 the first collection of his "Gedichte", which was followed by a second in 1758. After his death his friend
Karl Wilhelm Ramler published an edition of Kleist's "Sämtliche Werke" in 2 vols (1760). A critical edition was published byA. Sauer , in 3 vols (1880-1882). See alsoA. Chuquet , "De Ewaldi Kleistii vita et scriptis" (Paris, 1887), andHeinrich Pröhle , "Friedrich der Grosse und die deutsche Literatur" (1872).References
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