sturm and drang

Noun

Sturm und Drang (uncountable)

1. 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.
   • The best of the Stürmer und Dränger grew out of their Sturm und Drang, and it was necessary to indicate in what ways [Johann Gottfried] Herder and [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe changed as they grew older. It should be stressed, however, that the very principles which forced them to burst the husk of...1953, Roy Pascal, “Introduction”, in The German Sturm und Drang, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →OCLC, page xvi
2. (figuratively) Turmoil; a period of emotional intensity and anxiety.
   • After six months of sturm and drang she had to let him go.1945, Bennet Cerf, editor, Laughing Stock: Over Six-hundred Jokes and Anecdotes of Uncertain Vintage, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, page 219