Bürger, Gottfried August (1747-1794)

German Romantic poet. He may be said to have introduced the ballad into German literature, and is remembered for his ballad Lenore (1773).

Such works as Lenore, Der wilde Jäger, and Das Lied vom braven Manne are almost unequalled for dramatic intensity, virility of style, and atmospheric suggestiveness.

Bürger was born in Molmerswende. He studied theology at Halle, and afterwards law at Göttingen. He published his first poems in the Musenalmanach, of which he became editor 1778. He influenced the Scottish historical novelist Walter Scott, who made a translation of Lenore.