C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Clemens Brentano (1778–1842)
Brentano, Clemens (bren-tä’nō). A German poet and novelist (1778–1842); born at Ehrenbreitstein. He wrote a ‘Life of the Virgin Mary,’ based on alleged revelations. Among the works of his early days are found some gems of lyric poetry; and his dramatic productions—‘The Merry Musicians’ (1803); ‘Ponce de Leon’ (1804); ‘The Founding of Prague’ (1815)—manifest great power. Some of his minor novels were very successful; among them ‘The Good Caspar and the Fair Annie’ (1817), called by German critics “a masterpiece in miniature.” In collaboration with Achim von Arnim, his brother-in-law, he published an important collection of folk-songs, ‘The Boy’s Wonder-Horn’ (1806–08). (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).