Friedrich von Schiller
Friedrich von Schiller, (1759-1805). German poet and dramatist. He began writing as a child. His first play, The Robbers (1781), caused a furore with its emotional attacks on tyranny. When Schiller, an army officer, was ordered to write no more plays, he fled to Mannheim, where he wrote for the Mannheim National Theatre. In 1787 he met Goethe at Weimar and the two became close friends. Goethe used his influence to gain Schiller a university post as professor of history and these historical studies inspired the drama Wallenstein (1800). He also wrote the hymn ‘Ode to Joy’, further historical plays including William Tell (1804), and important essays on aesthetics.
