Grave of James Rutledge, father of Ann

[Eva Elisabeth]

Abraham Lincoln's conduct and preferred poetry in his young adult years just always reminds me of the "Strum and Drang" which was so popular amongst young men in the late 18the century. Sadness, suffer, extreme emotions, especially regarding love affairs, and expressing suicide desire was en-vogue. I don't recall Lincoln reading Goethe, but the phenomenon and "school" seems the same. I've never wondered that much about his depression and literature choice as I have always felt this represented the male fashion of those (well, slightly earlier) days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturm_und_Drang
http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_cent...drang.html