It is primarily for that work that Goethe is considered the most prominent figure in Germany's Romantic period/Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”) movement, a twenty-year period from the 1760s to 1780s in which young German intellectuals, inspired by Goethe’s emphasis on emotion, revolted against optimism and reason and moved into darker, more anarchic themes. Just like Rousseau’s works in France, Goethe’s works heavily focused on emotions and innate human feelings, this signalled the end of the German Enlightenment. Although, Goethe was never concerned with the politics of his era, even though there where massive governmental shifts taking place in Germany at the time, he had a great effect on the German people and he was the originator of many ideas which later became widespread. He was a writer and scholar and spent the bulk of his career and life creating an enormous amount of literature, translations, and scientific inquiries.
Goethe also released a number of essays, poems, and critiques over the following years, then unveiled the literary masterpiece that would mark his place in history. The first part of the drama Faust was published in 1808, the second in 1832. The drama was a retelling of the German legend of a man who promises his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power and it was a massive success.
Goethe was also a cultural force and believed in re-telling folk traditions; he created many of the norms for celebrating Christmas, and argued that the organic nature of the land moulded the people and their customs. He argued that laws could not be created by pure rationalism, since geography and history shaped habits and patterns. This contrasted with the Enlightenment view that reason was sufficient to create well-ordered societies and good laws.
His views overall were two fold: on one hand, he devoted to the sense of taste, order, and finely crafted detail, which is the hallmark of the artistic sense of the Age of Reason and the neo-classical period of architecture; on the other, seeking a personal, intuitive, and personalized form of expression and society, firmly supporting the idea of self-regulating and organic systems.
