1807 - 1808: "Nuns Fret...." to Michael Kohlhaas

Chronology of World, British and American Literature

Wordsworth. British. 1807. Poetry. “Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room.” Poet’s pleasure at the discipline of the sonnet form.

Mme. deStael. Swiss French. 1807. Novel. Corinne, or Italy. Psychological study of two tormented souls. Celebration of Italian civilization and mores.

Washington Irving. American. 1807/08. Essays. Salmagundi; or, the Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and Others. American link between The Spectator and the Pickwick Papers. Wit.

Heinrich von Kleist. German. 1808. Play. Penthesilea. Violently passionate. Tragic potentiality of human nature. Penthesilea (a queen of the Amazons) and Achilles die. Goethe: “Kleist a hypochondriac northerner.”

Heinrich von Kleist. German. 1808. Novella. Michael Kohlhaas. Horse trader takes law into his own hands to obtain justice from a young dissolute nobleman.