There is no textbook on European literature, and definitely not on German literature, that does not refer to Martin Opitz (1597-1639).

He was born in Bolesławiec in Lower Silesia as a butcher’s son. Opitz completed the famous lower-secondary school in Bytom Odrzański, and then went on to study at universities in Frankfurt (Oder) and Heidelberg. He is considered the father of German poetry, as in his treatises (Aristarchus, sive De contemptu linguae Teutonicae, 1617; Buch von der Deutcher Poeterey, 1624) he states that the beauty and art of the German language make it the rightful means of poetical expression.

He was the founder and the main representative of the Silesian school of poetry, the author of numerous poems in German and New Latin and the first German libretto – for the opera Dafne by Heinrich Schütz. Opitz was also involved in diplomatic activity during the dangerous period of the Thirty Years’ War. He spent a lot of time in Poland, and finally became the court historiographer of the Polish King, Władysław IV Vasa.

Opitz’s dedication from 8 October, 1618, is a rhymed entry into the friendship book of Caspar Kirchner, his cousin, friend and patron.