1791-1872. Austrian poet and dramatist. His
plays include the tragedy Die Ahnfrau/The
Ancestress 1817, the classical Sappho 1818,
and the trilogy Das goldene Vliess/The Golden
Fleece 1821. Born in Vienna, Grillparzer
worked for the Austrian government service
1813-56. His historical tragedies Konig
Ottokars Gluck und Ende/King Ottocar, His
Rise and Fall 1825 and Ein treuer Diener
seines Herrn/A True Servant of His Master
1826 both involved him with the censor. There
followed his two greatest dramas, Des Meeres
und der Liebe Wellen/The Waves of Sea and
Love 1831, returning to the Hellenic world,
and Der Traum, ein Leben/A Dream Is Life
1834. He wrote a bitter cycle of poems
Tristia ex Ponto 1835 after an unhappy love
affair.