Gottfried August Bürger

Gotfried August Bürger was an 18th century German poet and one of the founders of German romantic ballad literature. In 1773 Bürger published the ballad Lenore. The poem's use of refrain and its simple and naive language, as well as its sensational theme, had a profound effect upon the subsequent development of Romanticism throughout Europe.In addition to a number of Petrarchan sonnets, which considerably influenced later German poets, Bürger also did translations from the English. These included an influential collection of English and Scottish traditional ballads, Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, and an expanded version of Rudolf Erich Raspe's English translation of the original German tall tale The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.