Germany's first major poet of the eighteenth-century, Klopstock was a significant influence on the Sturm und Drang poetic movement to follow. A few of his most important works include The Messiah (1748-1773); a number of religiously inspired stage tragedies, especially The Death of Adam (1757), Solomon (1764), and David (1772); and a large body of shorter poetry. His essay, "On Divine Poetry," written as an introduction to The Messiah, inaugurates a new critical concern with the emotional effects of poetry in its claim that a work of genius must "move the soul."