Johann Wolfgang von Goethe anonymously releases Annette, his first collection of poems, 1in 1770.
His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets had vanished as he became interested in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Christoph Martin Wieland.
Already at this time, Goethe writes a good deal, but he throws away nearly all of these works, except for the comedy Die Mitschuldigen.
The restaurant Auerbachs Keller and its legend of Faust's 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller will become the only real place in his closet drama Faust Part One.
Goetheleaves Frankfurt in order to finish his studies at the University of Strasbourg in April 1770.
Goethe's father, Johann Caspar Goethe, lived with his family in a large house in Frankfurt, at this time an Imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire.
Though he had studied law in Leipzig and had been appointed Imperial Councillor, he was not involved in the city's official affairs.
Johann Caspar had married Goethe's mother, Catharina Elizabeth Textor at Frankfurt on August 20, 1748, when he was thirty-eight and she was seventeen.
All their children, with the exception of Johann Wolfgang and his sister, Cornelia Friederica Christiana, who was born in 1750, had died at early ages.
His father and private tutors had given Goethe lessons in all the common subjects of their time, especially languages (Latin, Greek, French, Italian, English and Hebrew).
Goethe had also received lessons in dancing, riding and fencing.
Johann Caspar, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions, had been determined that his children should have all those advantages that he had not.
Although Goethe's great passion was drawing, he had quickly became interested in literature; Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and Homer were among his early favorites.
He had a lively devotion to theater as well and was greatly fascinated by puppet shows that were annually arranged in his home; this is a recurrent theme in his literary work Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.
He also took great pleasure in reading works on history and religion.
Goethe had become also acquainted with Frankfurt actors.
Among early literary attempts, he was infatuated with Gretchen, who would later reappear in his Faust and the adventures with whom he would concisely describe in Dichtung und Wahrheit.
He adores Caritas Meixner (July 27, 1750 – December 31, 1773), a wealthy Worms trader's daughter and friend of his sister, who will later marry the merchant G. F. Schuler.
Goethe had studied law at Leipzig University from 1765 to 1768. He detested learning age-old judicial rules by heart, preferring instead to attend the poetry lessons of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert.
In Leipzig, Goethe had fallen in love with Anna Katharina Schönkopf and had written cheerful verses about her in the Rococo genre.
As his studies did not progress, Goethe had been forced to return to Frankfurt at the close of August 1768.
Goethe had become severely ill in Frankfurt.
During the following year and a half that followed, because of several relapses, the relationship with his father has worsened.
Goethe is nursed during convalescence by his mother and sister.
