Ewald Christian von Kleist (7 March 171524 August 1759) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and cavalry officer. His vast family was well-established in

Farther Pomerania Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (german: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the Od ...

; 58 male members of his family fought in

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

's army of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

. Kleist was born at Zeblin, near Köslin (Koszalin) in

, to the

von Kleist The House of Kleist is the name of an old and distinguished Pomeranian Prussian noble family, whose members obtained many important military positions within the Kingdom of Prussia and later in the German Empire. Notable members *Henning Alexan ...

family of cavalry leaders. Ewald Christian von Kleist (Rode) - 2

Family

The Kleist family is an old, established one in

whose roots date to the 12th century. Kleist's father, Joachim Ewald (1684–1738), son of Ewald von Kleist (died 1694), had been born on the family estate. On 7 July 1710, he married Marie Juliane von Manteuffel (sister of Heinrich von Manteuffel) from Groß-Poplow (near Polzin, in the district of Belgard). She died on 9 November 1719 after the birth of the sixth child.Rudolf Schwarze
Ewald Christian von Kleist
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,'' Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 16 (1882), S. 113–121, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in Wikisource,(Version vom 3. April 2017, 19:29 Uhr UTC). Ewald Christian, the third child of this marriage, lived with his only brother, Franz Casimir, one year older, at the estate of a paternal uncle, Christian von Manteuffel, in Groß-Poplow. Both boys attended the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

school in

Deutsch Krone Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

(now Wałcz, Poland) and subsequently, in 1729, the Danzig Gymnasium; in 1731 Ewald von Kleist advanced to the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussi ...

, where he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

. Either on the completion of his studies, or because his father was unhappy with the direction his studies took (he insisted on studying theology and modern languages and classics as well as law and mathematics) he entered the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

army, in which he became an officer in 1736. He served in a unit commanded by a friend of his father. In 1738 he was sent to

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

to visit his father and sister, as well as to his good friend Battrow (north-east of Flatow), a distant relative, the widowed chief of Goltz, whose daughter Wilhelmine made an impression on him; he became betrothed to her, but they were separated by his military service and she married another man.

Military service

Recalled to Prussia by King Frederick II in 1740, he was appointed

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in a newly formed regiment stationed at

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, where he became acquainted with

J. W. L. Gleim Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (2 April 1719 – 18 February 1803) was a German poet, commonly associated with the Enlightenment movement. Life Gleim was born at the small town of Ermsleben in the Principality of Halberstadt, then part of Prussi ...

, who interested him in poetry. After distinguishing himself at the

Battle of Mollwitz The Battle of Mollwitz was fought by Prussia and Austria on 10 April 1741, during the First Silesian War (in the early stages of the War of the Austrian Succession). It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II, in which both si ...

(10 April 1741) and the siege of

Neisse The Lusatian Neisse (german: Lausitzer Neiße; pl, Nysa Łużycka; cs, Lužická Nisa; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe. Quartered during the winter of 1757–1758 in Leipzig during the

, he found relief from his irksome military duties in the society of

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developmen ...

. His regiment, the Schenckendorff Grenadiers, entered into summer campaigns. Shortly afterwards in the

Battle of Kunersdorf The Battle of Kunersdorf occurred on 12 August 1759 near Kunersdorf (now Kunowice, Poland) immediately east of Frankfurt (Oder), Frankfurt an der Oder (the second-largest city in Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia). Part of the Third Silesian War and t ...

, on 12 August 1759, he was mortally wounded in the forefront of the attack. Thomas Carlyle offers a description of his death, possibly

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

: Kleist was attached to Finck's division at the Prussian right. He'd been hit several times by ricochets, and possibly musket balls, perhaps even 12 times. He continued to lead his troops forward, taking a third battery, when he was badly hurt on both arms. His "colonel" (Major Mark K. A. von Schwartz) fell; he led his regiment forward to the fourth battery when a case-shot smashed his leg into pieces; once he fell, Captain Sylvius von Swolinsky took command of the battalion. He fell from his horse, and was carried to the rear. In due course, a surgeon was brought to him, but was killed by case-shot. One of his friends tried to send a carriage to him, to move him out of danger, but it took so long he was cut off by the Russian advance. By evening, the Cossacks stripped him bare, and threw him into the nearest swamp. Later that night some Russian Hussars found Kleist in this situation, took him to a dry place, set a watch fire and gave him some bread. When they had left, the Cossacks returned and took the blanket the Russians had given him. Eventually a Russian cavalry troop passed by; one of their captains, had him sent to Frankfurt in a carriage. Under the care of a professor there, he had surgery and good nursing, although on the tenth night, the bone fell apart, cut an artery, and at 2 a.m. on the 24th he died. He received a soldier's funeral, his coffin borne by 12 Russian grenadiers, and attended by some officers; one staff officer laid his own sword on the bier.

Poetry

Kleist's chief work is a poem in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s, ''Der Frühling'' (1749), for which Thomson's ''Seasons'' largely supplied ideas. It earned him the nickname "the Poet of the Spring." He noted in his letters that

Carl Wilhelm Ramler Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

had given him belated commentary and improvements on his poem, which he self-published in December 1749. Subsequently, his poem received considerable notice, even from

Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (; ; 1698 – 27 July 1759) was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. He became the Director of the Académie des Sciences, and the first President of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the ...

. Kleist also wrote some

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

idyll An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). U ...

s and

elegies An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

, and a small

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

, ''Cissides und Paches'' (1759), the subject being two

Thessalia Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessa ...

n friends who die an heroic death for their country in a battle against the

Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. Likewise, he composed

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

s for his many friends who were killed in battle, such as Major Heinrich

von Blumenthal The von Blumenthal family are Lutheran and Roman Catholic German nobility, originally from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other (unrelated) families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families (quite a few of them Je ...

, which eerily foretold his own: 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 Karl Wilhelm Ramler (25 February 1725 – 11 April 1798) was a German poet, Berlin Cadet School master. Ramler was born in Kolberg. After graduating from the University of Halle, he went to Berlin, where, in 1748, he was appointed professo ...

published an edition of Kleist's ''Sämtliche Werke'' in 2 vols (1760). A critical edition was published by August Sauer, in 3 vols (1880–1882). See also

Arthur Chuquet Arthur Maxime Chuquet (28 February 1853 – 7 June 1925) was a French historian and biographer. He was born in Rocroi, Ardennes. He is now best known for his ''Jeunesse de Napoléon'' appearing in three volumes from 1897 to 1899. He became a mem ...

, ''De Ewaldi Kleistii vita et scriptis'' (Paris, 1887), and

Heinrich Pröhle Christoph Ferdinand Heinrich Pröhle (June 4, 1822 – May 28, 1895) was a German literary historian, teacher ('' Oberlehrer''), writer and folk tale and fairy tale collector (a successor to the Brothers Grimm). Disambiguation of Heinrich The g ...

, ''Friedrich der Grosse und die deutsche Literatur'' (1872). Research places the three Kleist poets—Ewald,

Franz Alexander von Kleist Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

and

Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays ''Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', ''The Broken Jug'', ''Amphit ...

to the same forefather at the start of the 15th century.Felix Bamberg
Kleist, Franz Alexander von
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,'' Band 16 (1882), S. 121–122, (Version vom 3. April 2017, 19:53 Uhr UTC).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleist, Ewald Christian Von 1715 births 1759 deaths People from Koszalin County People from the Province of Pomerania Ewald Christian German poets German male poets German-language poets University of Königsberg alumni Prussian Army personnel Prussian military personnel of the Seven Years' War German military personnel killed in action