Book excerpt: This book contributes to the current revision of Matthias Claudius's image by, illuminating the complex of ideas that lies at the core of his thought and relating them to his art and the broader concerns that were most important to him. Claudius has long had a firm place in the canon of German literature as a naive and soulful poet of folklife, nature, and religious faith. Over the past two decades, however, a growing body of scholarship has uncovered aspects of his life and work that demand reconsideration of his traditional image. This volume represents an attempt to contribute to the revision. This volume elucidates the ideas central to Claudius's thought and views them in connection with both his work and important issues of the time. Over and against the traditional image of Claudius the study projects a more accurate and balanced, indeed, a substantially new vision of the poet and man.