High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles "Ode to Joy" (German: "Ode an die Freude," first line: "Freude, sch ner G tterfunken") is an ode written in 1785 by the German poet, playwright and historian Friedrich Schiller, enthusiastically celebrating the brotherhood and unity of all mankind. Despite the lasting popularity of the ode, Schiller himself regarded it as a failure later in his life, going so far as calling it "detached from reality" and...