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VOSS, fŏs,Johann Heinrich, German poetand translator: b. Sommersdorf , near Waren,Mecklenburg, 20 Feb. 1751; d. Heidelberg, 29March 1826. He early began to write versesand some of these contributed to the ‘GöttingenMusenalmanach’ led to a correspondence withBoie, upon whose invitation be went in 1772 toGöttingen. Here he studied the classical andmodern languages and was one of the foundersof the GöttingerDichterbund. The editorshipof the ‘Musenalmanach’ was handed over tohim by Boie in 1775; in 1778 he was maderector of Otterndorf in Hanover, in 1782 atEutin. In 1781, after the publication ofseveral treatises, he produced his German ‘Odyssey,’a work which has rendered this grandpoem national with the Germans (new ed. byBernays, 1881). This has been called “themost perfect rendering of Homer into amodern tongue.” In 1793 appeared histranslation of the ‘Iliad,’ and that of the ‘Odyssey,’in a new form, in which, however, it didnot please so much as before, the formerdisplaying greater truth and naturalness. Hepublished in 1795 an idyl in the epic formcalled ‘Luise’ printed first in 1783, but nowproduced with improvements. His translationof the whole of ‘Vergil’ (1799) was revisedfor the edition of 1821. In 1805 he went asprofessor to Heidelberg, where he remained tillhis death. Voss rendered good service to thestudy of classical antiquity and threw freshlight upon many subjects. As a translator heexhibited wonderful command of language andgreat skill in the handling of metres. Amonghis translations that of Homer's works isundoubtedly the greatest; we may also mention,in addition to his ‘Vergil,’ his ‘Hesiod’(1806); ‘Horace’ (1806); ‘Theocritus, Bionand Moschus’ (1808); ‘Aristophanes’ (1821);‘Tibullus’ (1810); ‘Propertius’ (1830) andselections from ‘Ovid’ (1798). He also undertook,with his sons, a translation of Shakespearewhich was completed in nine volumes in1829, but this translation cannot stand acomparison with Schlegel's. Consult lives byPaulus (1826); by Herbst (1872-76); Prutz,‘Der Göttinger Dichterbund’ (1841).
