Claudius, Matthias (1740-1815)
Matthias Claudius (born 15 August 1740, died 21 January 1815) ) was a major lyric poet of Germany. Much of his verse was moralizing or religious in character, even strongly pietistic in his later life, and was marked by simplicity and humor. He published many of his poems in the Wandsbecker Bote (Wandsbeck Messenger), of which he was the editor. One of these was a poem of seven lines, titled "Hinz und Menno," Hinz boasting in the first six lines of his extensive knowledge of morals, and Menno (Simons) replying in a single line in Dutch, "But do you act accordingly?" (Maar doet gy ook daarna?) The Church Hymnal (Mennonite Church) and the Mennonite Hymnary (General Conference Mennonite Church) both contain a poem written by Claudius, which was later set to music, viz., "We Plow the Fields and Scatter."
Bibliography
Aus Wandsbecker Boten des Matthias Claudius (Die Blauen Bücher). Leipzig, 1921: 14.
| Author(s) | Elizabeth Horsch Bender |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Bender, Elizabeth Horsch. "Claudius, Matthias (1740-1815)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Claudius,_Matthias_(1740-1815)&oldid=62911.
APA style
Bender, Elizabeth Horsch. (1953). Claudius, Matthias (1740-1815). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Claudius,_Matthias_(1740-1815)&oldid=62911.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 619-620. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.