Johaann WolfgangVon Goethe (1749-1832)

A lifetime of metamorphoses took this colosus of German literature from the turbulence of early romanticism to the serenity of classicism. He said "I am like a snake. I slough my skin and start fresh." His fame rests largely on the poetic drama "Faust", the product of sixty years of meditation. It inspired novelist Thomas Mann and composer Richard Wagner.