Martin, Von Boberfeld, the father of modern German poetry, was born at Bunzlau in Silesia in 1597. At the universities of Frankfort and Heidelberg he studied his native literature, in addition to the regular branches of education. During the migratory life which he then began to lead his favourite study was not forgotten. While occupying the chair of philosophy and humanities at Weissenburg, in 1622, he published his first poem, Zlatna oder von der Ruhe des Gemüts. At Vienna, in 1624, the death of the Archduke Charles afforded him a subject for an elegy, a production which was rewarded by Ferdinand II. with a laurel crown and a patent of nobility. During his residence at Dantzig, where he held the office of secretary and historiographer to the Polish king, he published several poems and translations, among which were versions of the Antigone of Sophocles, and of the Psalms. It was in this city that he was cut off by the plague in 1639. Opitz is now remembered less on account of his poetical excellence than for the correctness and purity of style which he introduced into German poetry. He was also the author of several prose works, of which his treatise on German Poetry is most esteemed. (See in particular Umsichtliche Nachricht von des weltberühmten Schlossers M. Opitzen von Boberfeld's Leben, Tode und Schriften, von C. G. Lindner, 2 vols., 1740–41.)