Born: 15-Sep-1584
Birthplace: Stuttgart, Germany
Died: 13-Feb-1653
Location of death: London, England
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Poet

Nationality: Germany
Executive summary: Geistliche und weltliche Gedichte

German poet, was born at Stuttgart on the 15th of September 1584. After studying law he settled at Stuttgart, and, as secretary to the Duke Johann Friedrich of Wurttemberg, was employed on diplomatic missions to France and England. Between 1620 and 1624 he lived in England in the service of the Palatinate, and seems also to have been employed by the English government. In 1644 he was appointed "Secretary for Foreign Tongues" in England, a position in which, on the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was followed by Milton. He died in London on the 13th of February 1653. Weckherlin was the most distinguished of the circle of South German poets who prepared the way for the Renaissance movement associated in Germany with Martin Opitz. Two volumes of his Oden und Gesänge appeared in 1618 and 1619; his collected Geistliche und weltliche Gedichte in 1641. His models were the poets of the French Pléiade, and with his psalms, odes and sonnets he broke new ground for the German lyric. An epic poem on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, in alexandrines, seems to have won most favor with his contemporaries.

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