Sturm und Drang

Meaning

Noun

• A proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music which occurred from the late 1760s to the early 1780s, emphasizing individual subjectivity and the free expression of emotions.
• Turmoil; a period of emotional intensity and anxiety.

Origin

• Borrowed from German Sturm und Drang with the same figurative meaning, from Sturm + und + Drang. The phrase is the title of the play Sturm und Drang (1776) by German dramatist Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752–1831).
• The fact that the phrase is often italicized suggests it has not been fully assimilated into English.