[yoh-hahn vawlf-gahng fuh n] /ˈyoʊ hɑn ˈvɔlf gɑŋ fən/ (Show IPA), 1749–1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher.
Related forms
Goethean, Goethian
[gur-tee-uh n, gœ-] /ˈgɜr ti ən, ˈgœ-/ (Show IPA), adjective
British Dictionary definitions for Goethe
Goethe
/German ˈɡøːtə/
noun
1.
Johann Wolfgang von (joˈhan ˈvɔlfɡaŋ fɔn). 1749–1832, German poet, novelist, and dramatist, who settled in Weimar in 1775. His early works of the Sturm und Drang period include the play Götz von Berlichingen (1773) and the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774). After a journey to Italy (1786–88) his writings, such as the epic play Iphigenie auf Tauris (1787) and the epic idyll Hermann und Dorothea (1797), showed the influence of classicism. Other works include the Wilhelm Meister novels (1796–1829) and his greatest masterpiece Faust (1808; 1832)