Die Landplagen

Landplagen, Die, a poem published by J. M. R. Lenz in 1769. Described as Ein Gedicht in sechs Büchern, it is written in hexameters recalling those of Klopstock. The poem deals with six catastrophes which can befall the countryman: (1) Der Krieg; (2) Die Hungersnot; (3) Die Pest; (4) Die Feuersnot; (5) Die Wassersnot; and (6) Das Erdbeben. The subject gives scope for the accumulation of horrors, and the poem ends with the approach of a seventh ‘Landplage’, the Day of Judgement.