Karl Förster (9 March 1784 – 27 November 1841) 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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and translator.

Biography

He was born at

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, a son of Johann Christian Förster, preacher in the cathedral in that city. After studying theology and philosophy at Leipzig, he was appointed professor of the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

at the Military Academy in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

in 1807. He completed

Wilhelm Müller Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller (7 October 1794 – 30 September 1827) was a German lyric poet, best known as the author of ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1821) and ''Winterreise'' (1823). These would later be the source of inspiration for two song cy ...

's ''Bibliothek der deutschen Dichter des 17ten Jahrhunderts'', and wrote many poems, several of which have been set to music. They were collected and published in 1843. His translations from the classic poets of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

were also celebrated.

Notes

References

* * Karl August Förster's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, canto V (Francesca da Rimini) a
academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Karl 1784 births 1841 deaths German poets German male poets German male non-fiction writers 19th-century German translators 18th-century German translators Translators of Dante Alighieri