Author. He was a prolific and versatile German author of the early 19th century, belonging to a group called the Heidelberg Romanticism. Born Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano de La Roche, the second son of an Italian merchant, many of his siblings also became successful authors. Besides using the name "Clemens Brentano," he used the pseudonym of "Maria" in his first publications. He is not to be confused with the German diplomat of the 20th century, Clemens Brentano. The two are distantly related. His first successful writing was a novel, "Godwi," which contained his famous poem, "Zu Bacharach am Rheine , Sprich aus der Ferne , Ein Fischer sat im Kahne," which translates to English as "To Bacharach am Rheine, speak from afar, A fisherman sat in the boat." His most famous work was the 1832 "The Fairy tale of Gockel and Hinke," which contains eleven fairy tales. It began with the sentence, ""In Germany in a wild forest, between Gelnhausen and Hanau, lived an honorable elderly man …" He was a wander, traveling from place to place. After attempting two majors in schooling, he entered on June 5, 1798 to study medicine at the University of Jena. He never finished his medical education as he turned to a literary career. In 1801, he took philosophy classes at Georg August University in Goettingen. By 1808, he and a co-author had complied "The Boy's Magic Horn," which was three volumes of German folk songs. In late 1809, he moved to Berlin to continue his writings. In 1817 he converted to the Roman Catholic faith. Some of his writing had anti-Semitic undertones, such as "The Philistines Before, In and After History." In 1811 he left Berlin to move to Bohemia, and in 1813, he moved to Vienna. During this time, he wrote two stage dramas "Aloys and Imelda" and "The Foundation of Proags," with neither being successful. He returned to Berlin. Another noted writing is "The Sisters of Mercy" in 1831. He married the poet Sophie Mereau and his wife died in 1806 giving birth to their third child. He remarried but the couple divorced in 1814. He fell in love with Christian poet, Luise Hensel and wrote the poem, "O Just Keep your Heart Silent , I wandered through the Desert," which was dedicated to her. The couple never married. In 1833 he met the young Swiss painter, Emilie Linder, who did his portrait. He fell in love with her, and their friendship impacted her that after his death, she converted to Roman Catholic. During this time, he wrote the interesting 102 stanzas long poem "Alhambra." On July 5, 1842 he moved to his brother Christian's home in Aschaffenburg, where he died after a few weeks at the age of 63. Published posthumously were his verse epic "Romances of the Rosary," "The Bitter Suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ" in 1833, co-authored "Apprenticeship Years of Jesus" in 1860 and "Rhine Fairy Tales." A biography of Anna Katharina Emmerick was left unfinished but was published in 1981.