Gellert was esteemed and venerated by his students, and others who knew him, due in great part to his personal character; he was known to be unflaggingly amiable and generous, and of unaffected piety and humility.
He wrote in order to raise the religious and moral character of the people, and to this end employed language which, though at times prolix, was always correct and clear.
He thus became one of the most popular German authors, and some of his poems enjoyed a celebrity out of proportion to their literary value.
His immensely successful collection of fables and stories in verse, Fabeln und Erzählungen, first published in 1746, with a second part appearing in 1748, established his literary reputation.
A comparably popular collection of religious poems and hymns, Geistliche Oden und Lieder, appeared in 1758.

Not a little of Gellert's fame is due to the time when he lived and wrote.
The German literature of the period was dominated by Gottsched's school.
A band of high-spirited youths, of whom Gellert was one, resolved to free themselves from what were seen as the conventional trammels of such pedants, and began a revolution which was finally consummated by Schiller and Goethe.
Karl Philipp Moritz, in the context of his travels in England in 1782, remarked: "Among us Germans ... I can think of no poet's name beyond Gellert's which comes readily into the minds of the common people [in London]."

The fables, for which Gellert took La Fontaine as his model, are simple and didactic.
His religious poems were adopted as hymns by Catholics and Protestants alike.
The best known of his hymns is "Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur" (“The Heavens are Telling”).
Gellert wrote a few sentimental comedies: Die Betschwester (The Praying Sister, 1745), Die kranke Frau (The Sick Woman, 1747), Das Los in der Lotterie (1748), and Die zärtlichen Schwestern (The Affectionate Sisters, 1747), the last of which was much admired.
His novel Leben der schwedischen Gräfin von G. (1746), a weak imitation of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, is remarkable for being the first German attempt at a psychological novel.

Besides lecturing to large audiences on moral matters, Gellert maintained a wide-ranging correspondence with both strangers and friends, especially with those seeking advice on moral questions.
Regarded by many correspondents as a teacher also of good writing style, in 1751 he published a volume of model letters, along with an essay on letter-writing (Briefe, nebst einer praktischen Abhandlung von dem guten Geschmacke in Briefen).
Gellert was esteemed and venerated by his students, and others who knew him, due in great part to his personal character; he was known to be unflaggingly amiable and generous, and of unaffected piety and humility. He wrote in order to raise the religious and moral character of the people, and to this end employed language which, though at times prolix, was always correct and clear. He thus became one of the most popular German authors, and some of his poems enjoyed a celebrity out of proportion to their literary value. His immensely successful collection of fables and stories in verse, Fabeln und Erzählungen, first published in 1746, with a second part appearing in 1748, established his literary reputation. A comparably popular collection of religious poems and hymns, Geistliche Oden und Lieder, appeared in 1758.
Not a little of Gellert's fame is due to the time when he lived and wrote. The German literature of the period was dominated by Gottsched's school. A band of high-spirited youths, of whom Gellert was one, resolved to free themselves from what were seen as the conventional trammels of such pedants, and began a revolution which was finally consummated by Schiller and Goethe. Karl Philipp Moritz, in the context of his travels in England in 1782, remarked: "Among us Germans ... I can think of no poet's name beyond Gellert's which comes readily into the minds of the common people [in London]."
The fables, for which Gellert took La Fontaine as his model, are simple and didactic. His religious poems were adopted as hymns by Catholics and Protestants alike. The best known of his hymns is "Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur" (“The Heavens are Telling”). Gellert wrote a few sentimental comedies: Die Betschwester (The Praying Sister, 1745), Die kranke Frau (The Sick Woman, 1747), Das Los in der Lotterie (1748), and Die zärtlichen Schwestern (The Affectionate Sisters, 1747), the last of which was much admired. His novel Leben der schwedischen Gräfin von G. (1746), a weak imitation of Samuel Richardson's Pamela, is remarkable for being the first German attempt at a psychological novel.
Besides lecturing to large audiences on moral matters, Gellert maintained a wide-ranging correspondence with both strangers and friends, especially with those seeking advice on moral questions. Regarded by many correspondents as a teacher also of good writing style, in 1751 he published a volume of model letters, along with an essay on letter-writing (Briefe, nebst einer praktischen Abhandlung von dem guten Geschmacke in Briefen).
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert