Ⅰ．INTRODUCTION 3
Ⅱ．The MIDDLE AGES 3
1．Historical Overview:From the Decline of the Roman Empire until the Reign of Charles Ⅴ(300—1520) 3
2．German Poetry before 1050 10
3．German Poetry from 1050 to 1300 12
3.1 Hartmann von Aue:Poor Heinrich 15
3.2 The“Nibelungenlied” 23
3.3 The“Minnesang” 25
3.4 Wahher von der Vogelweide 27
4．The Bourgeois in the Late Middle Ages(1300—1500) 31
Ⅲ．RENAISSANCE,HUMANISM,REFORMATION 34
1．Historical Overview:from the Reign of Charles Vuntil the End of the Thirty Years War(1520—1648) 34
2．Renaissanee and Humanism (16th Century) 38
3．Reformation(1515—1680) 43
Ⅳ．BAROQUE,ENLIGHTMENT,PIETISM,ROCOCO 51
1．Historical Overview:From the Peace of Westphalia to the End of the Seven Years'War(1648—1756) 51
2．The Baroque Era(17th Century) 55
3．The Era of Enlightenment(1700—1775) 57
4．Pietism and Sentimentalism(18th Century) 64
5．Rococo(1740—1780) 65
Ⅴ．THE AGE OF GOETHE 70
1．Historical Overview:From the Rule of Frederick Ⅱ,King of Prussia,to the end of the Napoleonic Era(1740—1815) 70
2．The Era of Sturm und Drang(Storm and Stress)(1765—1785) 76
3．German Classicism(1786—1805) 87
4．Romanticism(1797—1830) 92
5．Literature from the Era of the Age of Goethe 97
5.1 Johann Wolfgang Goethe 97
5.1.1 Goethe's Poetry 105
5.1.2 The Erlking 113
5.2 Friedrich von Schiller 124
5.2.1 The Glove 129
5.2.2 Mary Stuart 143
5.2.2.1 Historical Background 147
5.2.2.2 A Tragedy in five Acts 160
5.2.2.3 The Structure of the Drama 165
5.3 Heinrich von Kleist 171
5.3.1 The Beggar woman om Locarno 176
Ⅵ．THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 188
1．Historical Overview 188
2．Literary Movements in the 19th Century 202
3．Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 224
4．Friedrich Nietzsche 235
Ⅶ．THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 244
1．Historical Overview 244
2．Literature of the 20th Century 267
2.1 Franz Kafka 279
2.1.1 The Great Wall of China 281
2.1.2 The Metamorphosis 285
2.2 Bertolt Brecht 297
2.2.1 The Legend of the Origin of the Book of Tao-Tê-Ching on Lao-Ts？'s Road into Exile 300
2.2.2 The Good Woman of Setzuan 306
2.2.3 The Caucasian Chalk Circle 309
2.3 Hermann Hesse 319