German poet, novelist, statesman and natural scientist (1749-1832), author of Faust and of Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (1795-1796), the model of the Bildungsroman, the novel of a young person’s formation [IC].
Contribution
Goethe joins both halves of the tradition on Aesthetic Education. In literature, Wilhelm Meister gave Bildung its narrative form: a young person leaves home, is changed by experience, and finds a place in society. In science, The Metamorphosis of Plants (1790) and the Theory of Colours (1810) studied nature through patient perception of form and change. Jonathan Rowson places Goethe, with Alexander von Humboldt, among those who received the Third Earl of Shaftesbury’s aesthetic view of nature, and credits him with perceptions Darwin later built on; that last claim is Rowson’s [TBV].
Selected works
- The Metamorphosis of Plants (1790)
- Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (1795-1796)
- Faust (Part One 1808, Part Two 1832)
- Theory of Colours (1810)
Related pages
Sources
- Rowson, J. (2021). What’s the Point of The Realisation Festival?
Provenance
Created 30 October 2026 with the Bildung pages, from Rowson’s account and the public record.