Super Short Summary

Goethe: The Poet and the Age by Nicholas Boyle is a two-volume biography detailing the life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a prominent German writer and statesman. The first volume, The Poetry of Desire, covers Goethe's early life, education, and initial literary success with The Sorrows of Young Werther. The second volume, Revolution and Renunciation, follows his return to Weimar, his partnership with Christiana Vulpius, and his literary achievements amid the Napoleonic War.