Klaus Groth (24 April 1819 – 1 June 1899) was a Low German poet. Biography Groth was born in Heide, in Ditmarschen, the western part of the Duchy of Holstein. He was the oldest son of Hartwig Groth, a miller, and his wife Anna Christina. He spend an idyllic childhood in Heide which later inspired him to a lot of his poetic works. After visiting the local school, he visited the teacher seminar in Tondern from 1838 to 1841. Afterwards, Groth became a teacher at the girls school in his native village, devoting his spare time to the study of philosophy, mathematics, and the natural sciences. Furthermore, he valued his homeland's traditions so that he was involved in the revival of a couple of old traditions in Dithmarschen. Finding no joy in teaching, Groth had many differences with the school board as well as his pupils' parents. In 1847, he suffered a breakdown. Fellow teacher and friend Leonhard Selle invited Groth to spend time with him on the island of Fehmarn, in the Baltic Sea. He remained six years with Selle, and it was there that his famous Low German poetry compilation Quickborn was written. Becoming famous in all of Germany when the Quickborn was published in 1852, Groth moved to Kiel shortly after where he set to write more poems and first prose works in Low German. Since he was often of poor health, in 1855 he attempted to travel to Rome to recuperate, but he only came as far as Bonn. There, the University of Bonn awarded him with an honorary doctorate for his service to the German language. Back in Kiel after two years of travelling, he courted and married Doris Finke in 1859, the daughter of a wealthy wine merchant from Bremen. The couple had four sons. To provide for his family, Groth strove for a position as professor of literature at the University of Kiel where he was appointed professor in 1866, the same year, his oldest son died, and the family moved into a house of their own in the "Schwanenweg". Groth lived in this house until his death. Through many social gatherings and music evenings in their home that his wife organised, the Groth family established important social contacts, and became friends with many contemporary musicians, for example Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, a close friend of Groth. He became acquainted with many