ABSTRACT
ANNETTE VON DROSTE-HÜLSHOFF (1797-1848) stands halfway between romanticism and realism. During her life her fame was overshadowed by the noise and clamour of JungDeutschland. Today she is justly regarded as Germany’s greatest poetess. Both her personality and her art defied formulation on the part of her critics. Convention and a sense for the demonic attained a peculiar equilibrium in the soul of this aristocratic poetess from Westphalia. Her common sense was strong enough to curb her natural inclination towards the phantastic.
