VOSS, JOHANN HEINRICH (1751-1826), German poet and translator, was born at Sommersdorf in Mecklenburg-Strelitz on Feb. 20, 1751, the son of a farmer. At the invitation of H. C. Boie, whose attention he had attracted by poems contributed to the Gottingen Musenalmanach, he went to Giittingen in 1772. Here he studied philology and became one of the leading spirits in the famous Hain or Dichterbund. In 1775 Boie made over to him the editorship of the Musenalmanach, which he continued to issue for several years. He married Boie's sister Ernestine in 1777. Voss was rector of the School at Otterndorf, Hanover (1778-82), and at Eutin (1782-1802). He then became a pro fessor at Heidelberg, where he died on March 28, 1826.
The best of his works is his idyllic poem Luise (1795), in which he sought to apply the style and methods of classical poetry to the expression of modern German thought and sentiment. But
he is chiefly remembered for his translations of Homer, Hesiod, Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, Pro pertius, and of Shakespeare's plays (9 vols.).
J. H. Voss's Sdmtliche poetische Werke were published by his son Abraham in 1835 ; new ed. 185o. A good selection is in A. Sauer, Der Gottinger Dichterbund, vol. i. (Kiirschner's Deutsche National literatur, vol. 49, 1887). His Letters were also published by his son in 4 vols. (1829-33). Voss left a short autobiography, Abriss meines Lebens (1818). See also W. Herbst, J. H. Voss (3 vols., 1872-76) ; A. Heussner, J. H. Voss als Schulmann in Eutin (1882).