KLOPSTOCK, FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB (klop'stok), a German poet; born in Quedlinburg, July 2, 1724. In freeing German poetry from the exclusive reign of the Alexandrine verse, he was the founder of a new era in German literature. His great epic “Messiah” (1748-1773), at first partly written in prose and changed afterward to hexameters, made him famous. His most finished work, however, was doubtless his “Odes.” Schiller and Goethe were artistically indebted to him. He died in Hamburg, March 14, 1803.