Background
Brentano was born at Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine, Sept. 8, 1778. He was the son of Peter Anton Brentano, a native of Italy, and his wife, Maximilian, who was a daughter of the novelist Sophie von La Roche. Brentano was connected by blood or marriage with several distinguished figures of later German romanticism, notably his sister Bettina (1785-1859), her husband Achim von Arnim (1781-1831), and the eminent jurist Friedrich Karl von Savigny (1779-1861). He attended the universities of Bonn and Jena, and later he resided in Heidelberg, Vienna, and Berlin.
Career
At Heidelberg he was associated with the leading writers of the time, and published, together with von Arnim, an anthology of German folk-poetry, Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Boy's Magic Horn," published in 1806-1808 in three volumes). The book widely influenced German lyric poetry and provided texts for a well-known song cycle by the late 19th century composer Gustav Mahler.
After the death in 1806 of his first wife, the novelist Sophie Mereau, Brentano contracted a second marriage of brief and unhappy duration. The brilliant but erratic poet seemed unable to find anchorage, until in 1817 he returned to the Catholic faith, in which he had been born. From then on his life was spent in the service of religion; his most important work from this period was an account of the stigmatic mystic Katharina Emmerich. He died at Aschaffenburg, July 28, 1842.
Brentano is at his best in lyric poetry, in which he displays intense emotional power and great grace of form. His purest lyric note is derived from the Volkslied. His poetry reflects many moods: wild fantasy, deep piety, irony, humor, and tragedy. Only Brentano's shorter works can be considered great--a judgment especially applicable to his prose. He wrote the novel, Godwi (1800-1802), and a number of plays, but his best prose works are three short stories: Die Geschichte vom braven Kasperl und dem schönenschonen Annerl (1817), a realistic tragic tale; Die Chronika eines fahrenden SchülersSchulers (1818); and Gockel, Hinkel und Gackeleia (1838), a fairy tale.
