Sturm und Drang

Sturm und Drang (literally: "storm and urge") was a revolutionary protest movement in German literature during the latter half of the 18th century, so named after a play by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. It marks the return of romanticism to what was seen as an overly rationalist literary tradition. The period is variously characterized as having lasted from 1767 - 1785 (most common view), 1769 - 1786, or 1765 - 1795. Its best known manifestation is the 1774 novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Other notable works include:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• Zum Schakespears-Tag (1771)
• Sesenheimer Lieder (1771)
• Götz von Berlichingen (1773)
• Prometheus (1773; revised 1777)
• Ganymed (1774)

Friedrich Schiller

• Die Räuber (1781)
• Kabale und Liebe (1784)

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

• Der Hofmeister (1774)
• Die Soldaten (1776)

Johann Heinrich Voss

• German verse translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

Christoph Heinrich Hölty