Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus, sinilo@mail.ru
The paper is devoted to the study of the collision “poet and power”, as well as ideas about the poet and poetry in the lyrics of the outstanding German poet-innovator Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803). We argue that it was he who, in the Age of Enlightenment, truly created civil and political lyrics in Germany, opposed tyranny, absolutism, and condemned wars of conquest. We show the prerequisites for the formation of the love of freedom and the civic position of the poet, which are connected, among other things, with his upbringing within the framework of pietism. Klopstock fiercely criticized court poetry, all servility to those in power, the mighty of this world, considering it unworthy of a true poet, humiliating his sacred gift. We also analyze the poet's attitude to the Great French Revolution and the struggle of the French people for freedom, his condemnation of aggressive wars and the Jacobin dictatorship. We pay special attention to the concept of the poet and poetry in the work of Klopstock. According to his thought, the poet is primarily responsible to God, his own conscience, people and history and has no right to compromise himself with flattery and lies – neither in relation to the people, nor even more so in relation to those in power. We show the significance for Klopstock in this regard of The Bible as an archetext (meaning- and text-generating text) and especially the biblical archetextuality associated with the prophetic books and The Book of Psalms.
German Enlightenment; F.G. Klopstock; collision “poet and power”; civil and political lyrics; pietism; The Bible; prophetic books; The Book of Psalms; archetextuality
Download textFor citing: Sinilo G.V. (2022). Poet and power in the lyrics of F.G. Klopstock. Human being: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects. Moscow: INION RAN. Vol. 3(51): Power of literature – writer and authorities, pp. 7-35. DOI: 10.31249/chel/2022.03.01