[1] Wilpert was born in Tartu (Dorpat), Estonia.
Like all Baltic Germans, he was forced to leave Estonia after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the takeover of the country by the Soviet Union (1939–40).
From 1953 to 1957 he studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he was at times a docent.
He then settled near Stuttgart to work as independent author and lecturer.
Wilpert published several editions of an encyclopedia of literary descriptions Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.