Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry

Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry is a criticism on German poetry written by Wilhelm Alfred Braun.

Author's Preface:

The work which is presented in the following pages is intended to be a modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz. The writer has endeavored first of all to define carefully the distinction between pessimism and Weltschmerz; then to classify the latter, both as to its origin and its forms of expression, and to indicate briefly its relation to mental pathology and to contemporary social and political conditions.

The three poets selected for discussion, were chosen because they represent distinct types, under which probably all other poets of Weltschmerz may be classified, or to which they will at least be found analogous; and to the extent to which such is the case, the treatise may be regarded as exhaustive. In the case of each author treated, the development of the peculiar phase of Weltschmerz characteristic of him has been traced, and analyzed with reference to its various modes of expression.