Title: The Depiction of “Thunderstorm” and the Humanistic Spirt in Klopstock’s “Frühlingsfeier”

Abstract: In 1752, Benjamin Franklin successfully invented the lightning rod, which marked a significant milestone in man’s comprehension and manipulation of nature. From that point, man liberated himself from the fear and anxiety caused by “thunderstorms”, and began to set positive aesthetic value to this weather phenomenon. Following this breakthrough of the history of technology, the German Enlightenment poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock composed the free-rhythm hymn “Frühlingsfeier” with the theme of “thunderstorm” which served as an emblematic work in his oeuvre. This poem, with its pioneering technique from content to form, constitutes the initial affirmative aesthetic portrayal of the “thunderstorm” in the history of German literature with profound impact. The present study initiates an exploration of Klopstock’s approach to shaping the theme of “thunderstorm” in his poetry. It delves into Klopstock’s integration of the humanistic notion of the Enlightenment era inyo his poetic framework of “representation”. Through this investigation, the paper seeks to unveil paradigm shifts in the conceptions of human poetics, nature, and religion within the literary poetry of this epoch.

Keywords: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, “Frühlingsfeier,” thunderstorm, lightning rod, free-rhythm, humanism

Author: Yi Xu, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2024.01.006