ABSTRACT
Platen, a German poet, was born into an aristocratic family in Ansbach. Following cadet school and four years of service as royal page at the Bavarian court in Munich, Platen entered the University of Erlangen. His studies in languages and Oriental cultures led him to experiment in foreign verse forms, particularly the Persian ghasel The poems of his first collection, Ghaselen (1821), clearly inspired by personal relationships and the result of Platen’s aestheticized same-sex desire, were praised for their ingenuity in handling the most complicated meters and rhyme schemes.
