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Martin Opitz (1597–1639)
Opitz, Martin (ō’pits). A German poet; born in Bunzlau, Silesia, Dec. 23, 1597; died of the plague in Dantzic, Aug. 20, 1639. For more than a century he was called the “father of German poetry.” He attained great influence on the literature of Germany, chiefly by his theoretical and critical writings; of which his ‘Aristarchus; or, on Contempt for the German Language’ (1617) is the most important.