Charles Timothy Brooks (20 June 1813-14 June 1883), poet and translator of German literature, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard College from 1828 to 1832 and then entered the Divinity School, graduating in 1835. Brooks supplied various pulpits for two years before being ordained in 1837. His first ministry was at Newport, Rhode Island, where he settled permanently. He married in 1837. Always somewhat sickly, Brooks served in Newport for thirty-seven years, with brief interruptions for travels to help his respiratory problems; in 1853-1854 he travelled to India; and 1865-1866 he journeyed to England and the continent. He resigned his pulpit in 1871. Always interested in German literature, Brooks contributed to the major journals of the day and published nearly a dozen translations, including Schiller's William Tell (Providence: B. Cranston, 1838), Goethe's Faust (Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1856), and Richter's Titan: A Romance (Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1862). His own poetry was undistinguished, but his translations, enthusiastic if uneven, did much to promote the study of German literature and were well-received by his contemporaries. A collection of his best verse was published two years after his death: Poems, Original and Translated, ed. W. P. Andrews (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885).