Dichterhain - Potsdam, Germany - Dead Poets' Society Memorials on Waymarking.com

Charlottenhof was designed in Neoclassical style. Fittingly, the four German poets Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Wieland were the creators of a short but influential period in German literature, called Weimar Classicism. In turn, that period was strongly influenced by the Italian Renaissance, of which Dante, Tasso, Petrarca and Ariosto were the most prolific poets.

Friedrich Schiller (1759 – 1805) is second only to Goethe - some argue he would have been an greater poet than Goethe, had he lived as long as Goethe did.

Johann Gottfried Herder was not only one of the greatest poets of his time, but also a very progressive philosopher. He was one of the first to claim that there is only one human race and "racial" differences are superficial.

Christoph Martin Wieland was a poet and playwright and an influential character of the cosmopolitanism of the German Enlightenment, exemplified in his remark: "Only a true cosmopolitan can be a good citizen."

Ludovico Ariosto (1474 – 1533) was the renaissance poet who coined the term term "humanism" for choosing to focus upon the strengths and potential of humanity, rather than only upon its role as subordinate to God.

Dante Alighieri was the most influential poet of the Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, is widely considered the greatest literary work in the Italian language.

Francesco Petrarca (1304 – 1374) was a scholar and poet who is often considered the founder of Humanism. His rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often considered as the initiation of 14th-century Renaissance.

Chalottenhof Palace was the summer residence of Prussian king Frederick William IV, also called "The Romantic on the Throne." His selection of poets is a good example for his admiration of poetry. It also shows an among royalty very uncommon sympathy for humanism and equality.