As a young boy, Klingemann developed an interest in the theatre which would last his whole life. After he completed his education at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig, he went to Jena in 1798 to study law and philosophy. There he heard lectures by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling and August Wilhelm Schlegel and became friends with Clemens Brentano. However, in 1801 he left Jena and returned to Braunschweig, where he became editor of "Zeitung für die elegante Welt" (Newspaper for the Elegant World).