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What is Hermann and Dorothea about?
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, engraving by James Posselwhite, 19th century.
Hermann und Dorothea (1797) is an epic poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in the Homeric manner using Greek hexameters.12
Set in contemporary Germany, the work portrays the responses of ordinary small-town people to the French Revolution and the associated wars. Specifically, the narrative focuses on the experiences and fate of German refugees displaced by these conflicts. It was one of Goethe's most successful and lucrative works during his lifetime.12