German regional poet whose book Quickborn (1853) first revealed the poetic possibilities of Plattdeutsch (Low German).

Groth was originally a schoolteacher, but his tireless self-education finally enabled him to win a chair at Kiel University (1866). Inspired by the Scots dialect poems of Robert Burns and the Swabian-Swiss writings of Johann Peter Hebel, he explored the potentials of his native Dithmarschen dialect as a vehicle of lyrical expression. His poems have the simplicity of folk songs and have been set to music by Brahms and other composers. His work influenced Fritz Reuter (Reuter, Fritz), whose novels elevated Plattdeutsch prose to a literary language.