Name Karoline Gunderrode | Role Poet | |
![]() | ||
Similar People Bettina von Arnim, Wolfgang Rihm, Achim von Arnim, Joseph von Eichendorff, Heinrich von Kleist |
Karoline von gunderrode
Karoline Friederike Louise Maximiliane von Günderrode (11 February 1780 – 26 July 1806) was a German Romantic poet, born in Karlsruhe. She used the nom-de-plume of Tian.
Contents
![Karoline von Günderrode FrankfurtLese Karoline von Gnderrode](https://alchetron.com/cdn/karoline-von-gnderrode-28744b24-48f7-48b8-a0cf-9701d8c72e3-resize-750.jpeg)
Karoline von gunderrode liebe
Life
Günderrode, the oldest of six siblings, came from an aristocratic but poor family. In 1797 she entered a residence in Frankfurt am Main, run by a charitable foundation, in which poor unmarried noblewomen could live respectably while keeping an eye out for a suitable marriage partner. In Frankfurt her friends included the three siblings Kunigunde Brentano (later von Savigny; 1780-1863), Bettina von Arnim (née Brentano) and Clemens Brentano.
![Karoline von Günderrode Karoline von Gunderrode Alchetron the free social encyclopedia](https://alchetron.com/cdn/karoline-von-gnderrode-8a3d4718-5ecd-4bee-b8e3-12466389aad-resize-750.jpeg)
Günderrode was unable to come to terms with the prescribed feminine roles. In a letter to Kunigunde Brentano she wrote: "I've often had the unfeminine desire to throw myself into the wild chaos of battle and die. Why didn't I turn out to be a man! I have no feeling for feminine virtues, for a woman's happiness. Only that which is wild, great, shining appeals to me. There is an unfortunate but unalterable imbalance in my soul; and it will and must remain so, since I am a woman and have desires like a man without a man's strength. That's why I'm so vacillating and so out of harmony with myself…." Karoline suffered from a nervously induced melancholy and had an unpredictable temperament that alienated some.
![Karoline von Günderrode Karoline von Gnderrode Kurzbiographie](https://alchetron.com/cdn/karoline-von-gnderrode-5b8b12d8-44f7-4990-b66e-337a5051f66-resize-750.jpeg)
While attending a social event, Günderrode met the legal scholar Friedrich Carl von Savigny and fell in love with him. Sometime later, she reached the point of hoping for a proposal of marriage, but Savigny decided instead to marry her less intellectual friend Kunigunde Brentano.
![Karoline von Günderrode Karoline von Gunderrode Alchetron the free social encyclopedia](https://alchetron.com/cdn/karoline-von-gnderrode-26f6b3c6-35ee-4436-ab1a-1d4cf970e69-resize-750.jpeg)
After what she saw as Savigny's betrayal, Günderrode worked on her art as a poet, aiming to unite life and writing. She wrote works with strong heroic women in a central role, such as Hildegun und Nikator and Mora. Through her writing she criticized the ideals of the bourgeois society at the time and its traditional gender roles.
![Karoline von Günderrode Karoline von Gnderrode Wikipedia](https://alchetron.com/cdn/karoline-von-gnderrode-21c2ae61-ff67-417a-92ad-ed25f589c19-resize-750.jpg)
In 1804, Günderrode met the philologist and archeologist Georg Friedrich Creuzer. Although he was married, they developed a relationship. Creuzer asked his wife for a divorce, which she agreed to, but Creuzer, who suffered depression from his secret relationship with Günderrode, and anxiety about the public scandal of a divorce, postponed the decision. He sought advice from his friends and colleagues, who suggested he should forget Günderrode, as she would never be a suitable wife. In the midst of the unresolved situation, he became ill; finally, through a friend, he sent a letter to Günderrode ending the relationship. Upon receiving the news, Günderrode killed herself with a dagger on the banks of the river Rhine at Winkel.
Günderrode and Heinrich von Kleist were the two central characters in Kein Ort. Nirgends, a novel by Christa Wolf published in 1979. Kein Ort. This recounts a fictional meeting between Günderrode and Heinrich von Kleist, in which the two escape the empty chatter of a tea party by taking a long walk. Kleist also ended his life by suicide, as he was in love with the dying Henriette Vogel.