Johann Jakob Bodmer

In 1725 he was appointed professor of Helvetian history at the Carolinum academy in Zürich, a chair which he held for half a century, and in 1735 became a member of the Cantonal Council.

[1] He published (1721–1723), in conjunction with Johann Jakob Breitinger and others, Die Discourse der Mahlern, a weekly journal after the model of The Spectator.

Bodmer believed that poetry should evoke wonder and engage the emotions, allowing writers creative freedom to explore the sublime and fantastical.

He argued that poetry should serve as a tool for moral instruction and adhere to strict rules of form, clarity, and logical structure.

While Gottsched initially held sway with his rationalist approach, Bodmer’s ideas gradually gained prominence, especially as they resonated with the later Sturm und Drang and Romantic movements, which embraced emotion, imagination, and the sublime in art and literature.