DRACHMANN, HOLGER HENRIK HERBOLDT (1846-1908), Danish poet and dramatist, son of Dr. A. G. Drach mann, a physician of Copenhagen, whose family was of German extraction, was born in Copenhagen on Oct. 9, 1846. At various periods he travelled very extensively in England, Scotland, France, Spain and Italy, and his literary career began by his sending let ters about his journeys to the Danish newspapers. Af ter returning home, he settled for some time in the island of Bornholm, paint ing seascapes. He now issued his earliest volume of poems, Digte (1872), and joined the group of young Radical writers who gath ered under the banner of Brandes. By this time he had enjoyed a surprising experience of life, especially among sailors, fisher men, students and artists, and the issues of the Franco-German War and the French Commune had persuaded him that a new and glorious era was at hand. His volume of lyrics, Daempede Me lodier ("Muffled Melodies," 1875), proved that Drachmann was a poet with a real vocation, and he began to produce books in prose and verse with great rapidity. Ungt Blod ("Young Blood," 1876) contained three realistic stories of contemporary life. But he returned to his true field in his magnificent Sange ved Havet; Venezia ("Songs of the Sea; Venice," 1877), and won the pas sionate admiration of his countrymen by his prose work, with interludes in verse, called Derovre fra Graensen ("Over the Frontier there," 1877), a series of impressions made on Drach mann by a visit to the scenes of the war with Germany. During the succeeding years he visited most of the principal countries of the world, and familiarized himself by protracted voyages with the sea and with the life of man in maritime places. In 1879 he published Ranker og Roser ("Tendrils and Roses"), love lyrics in which he showed a great advance in technical art. To the same period belongs Paa Somands Tro og Love ("On the Faith and Honour of a Sailor," 1878), a volume of short stories in prose. About this time Drachmann broke with Brandes and the Radicals, and led a "nationalist" or popular-Conservative party in Den mark. He continued to celebrate the life of the fishermen and sailors in books, whether in prose or verse, which were the most popular of their day. Paul og Virginie and Lars Kruse (both 1879) ; Osten for Sol vesten for Maone ("East of the Sun and West of the Moon," 188o) ; Puppe og Sommerfugl ("Chrysalis and Butter fly," 1882) ; and Strandby Folk (1883) were among these. In 1882 Drachmann published his fine translation, or paraphrase, of By ron's Don Juan. In 1885 his romantic play called Der var en Gang ("Once upon a Time") had a great success on the boards of the Royal theatre, Copenhagen; and his tragedies of Volund Smed ("Wayland the Smith") and Bray-Karl (1897) made him the most popular playwright of Denmark. He published in 1894 a volume of exquisitely fantastic Melodramas in rhymed verse, a collection which contains some of Drachmann's most perfect work. His novel Med den brede Pensel ("With a Broad Brush," 1887) was followed in 1890 by Forskrevet, the history of a young painter, Henrik Gerhard, and his revolt against his bourgeois sur roundings. With this novel is closely connected Den hellige Ild ("The Sacred Fire," 1899), in which Drachmann speaks in his own person. There is practically no story in this autobiographical volume, which abounds in lyrical passages. In 1899 he produced his romantic play called Gurre; in 'goo a brilliant lyrical drama, Hail/red Vandraadesk jald; and in 1903, Det gronne Haab. He died in Copenhagen on Jan. 14, 1908.
See an article by K. Gjellerup in Dansk Biografisk Lexikon vol. iv. (i8go). (E. G.)