Günderrode, Karoline von (1780–1806)

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Günderrode, Karoline von (1780–1806)

German poet. Name variations: Günderode, Gunderode, Gunderrode; sometimes used the pseudonym Tian. Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, Feb 11, 1780; committed suicide at Winkel on the Rhine, July 26, 1806; grew up as one of several daughters of a moderately affluent widow.

Prompted by mother, entered a kloster for well-born spinsters but was unhappy there; soon found that travel and visits to friends, especially close friend Bettine von Arnim, freed her; had many strong attachments and a natural tendency toward melancholy and mysticism, which colored her poetry; at 26, committed suicide with a dagger. Gedichte und Phantasien (Poems and Fancies) was published the year of her death (1806), as was Poetic Fragments.

See also Women in World History.