2 h 42 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
When war drives strangers through a quiet town, can a shy young man find the courage to choose love?
In Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s narrative poem Hermann and Dorothea, refugees from the French Revolutionary wars pass through a small German town. Hermann, an innkeeper’s son, meets Dorothea among them. She cares for others despite her own uncertain future, and her practical strength draws his admiration.
At home, Hermann’s father wants a marriage that brings prosperity and standing. His mother listens with sympathy, while a pastor and an apothecary ask about Dorothea among the refugees. Hermann must speak for himself, but shyness and misunderstanding stand between his feelings and an honest declaration.
What you’ll discover
- Kindness amid upheaval Meet Dorothea as she helps fellow refugees while facing an uncertain future of her own.
- A hesitant courtship Follow Hermann’s struggle to make his intentions clear when plain words feel hardest.
- A household divided Enter a family disagreement where hopes for security meet a son’s wish to marry.
- Character beyond possessions Consider what conduct reveals about a person when war strips away the signs of prosperity.
- Ordinary life, epic weight Travel through streets, fields, and a household in nine cantos shaped by ancient epic verse.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy love stories set against real history, warm family comedy and the lives of ordinary people in wartime will feel at home here, as will anyone curious about Goethe's gentler side.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A quiet town goes to watch sorrow
- Hermann's gift and the family quarrel
- A mother draws out her son's secret
- Friends go to learn the maiden's character
- At the spring, a bargain is struck
- What the poem is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- HermannThe innkeeper's quiet, hardworking son, who longs for a wife of his own and cannot bear his father's scorn.
- DorotheaA strong, kind refugee who leads oxen and tends the sick, and who values honest service above comfort.
- The InnkeeperHermann's father, proud of his town's improvements, who wants a rich bride and a daughter in law with fine manners.
- The Innkeeper's WifeHermann's sensible, loving mother, who understands her son better than anyone and works to bring father and son together.
- The PastorA wise and warm young clergyman who guides the friends and helps untangle the family's troubles.
- The DoctorA cautious neighbor who prefers to make haste slowly and likes to inquire before anyone decides.
- The MagistrateAn elder among the exiles who keeps the peace and tells the story of how hope for freedom turned to fear.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Hermann et Dorothée
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · 1797
A shy innkeeper's son gives away a carriage of food and falls for a refugee girl driving two oxen.
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In short
Hermann and Dorothea is a narrative poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who died in 1832. He set a simple love story inside the wars that followed the French Revolution.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A quiet town goes to watch sorrow
The poem opens in the marketplace of a prosperous small town on a hot, clear midday. The innkeeper of the Golden Lion sits on his porch and remarks that the streets are almost empty. Nearly everyone has hurried out to the causeway to see a column of exiles who have crossed the Rhine from the far side. He prefers to stay where he is and send help instead.
His wife, a sharp and kindly housewife, has already sent their son Hermann out with a carriage of food, drink and old linen. She admits that she also gave away her husband's old dressing gown of East Indian chintz, and he takes the loss with a smile. Their talk is homely and full of weather, harvest and fashion. Each detail builds the calm world that the refugees have lost.
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What is Hermann and Dorothea about?
It tells of an innkeeper's shy son who meets a refugee girl on a day of upheaval, and of how his family and neighbors respond when he wants to marry her. War and the Rhine frame the story.
When is Hermann and Dorothea set?
It is set in the years of the wars that followed the French Revolution, in a small German town near the Rhine. Refugees from the far bank, driven out by fighting, pass through on one summer day.
Why are the books named after Muses?
Each of the nine books carries the name of one of the Greek Muses, such as Calliope, Clio or Urania. Goethe follows a classical custom, giving each chapter of the poem a name from the old tradition.
The author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1749–1832 · German poet and novelist
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was Germany's towering man of letters — poet, novelist, playwright, and scientist. The Sorrows of Young Werther, the novel that made him famous across Europe in his mid-twenties, helped ignite the Romantic movement.
More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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