KORNER, KARL THEODOR, was born at Dresden in the year 1791, of respectable parents. The weakness of his health prevented any great application to study, and as a child he was rather remarked for the amiability of his disposition than for any intellectual acquire ments. However, as he grew, both his mind and body gained strength, and he showed an early inclination to history, mathematics, and phy sical science. Above all he loved poetry, and was encouraged in his juvenile compositions by his father, who was an ardent admirer of the works of Gotha and Schiller. Being educated at a school in Dresden, and by private teachers, he did not leave his father's house till he was near- seventeen, when, being designed to fill some office in the mines, he was sent to the Bergacademie (school mines) at Freiberg, where ha made great progress. After completing the necessary course of study, he went to the university at Leipzig, and afterwards to Berlin. A fit of illness however, and the dislike which his father had to the wild spirit then reigning among German students, were the cause of his being sent to Vienna, where he laboured much at poetical composition. Two pieces, 'Die Brant' The Bride'), and ' Der griine Domino' (The Green Domino'), were acted at the theatre in 1812, and meeting with success were followed by others, of which 'Zriny' and ' Rosa munde ' (the English Fair Rosamond), two tragedies, were works aiming at a high character.
The events of the year 1813 made a deep impression on Korner. Inspired by patriotic zeal, he resolved to engage in the cause of Prussia against the French, and joined the volunteer corps under Major Liitzow. He was wounded by two sabre cuts at the battle of Kitzen, and lay concealed and disabled in a wood, whither his horse had carried him, until he was removed by two peasants, sent by his comrades, to a place of safety. In a subsequent battle, fought on the 26th of August, on the road from Gadebusch to Schwerin, he was killed by a shot, and buried by his comrades at the foot of an oak on the road from Lubelow to Dreikrug, with all marks of honour, and his name was cut on the bark of the tree.
As Korner was scarcely twenty-two years of age at the time of his death, his works, which are rather numerous, must be judged with lenity. To comprehend the great Impression which his patriotic poems made, it is necessary for the reader to throw himself back to the time, and enter into the deep-rooted hatred felt by the Prussians for the French. His fame chiefly rests on a collection of lyrical pieces called ' Leier und &thwart ' (' Lyre and Sword '), many of which were written in the camp, and which can now only be properly felt and appreciated when studied in connection with the events that occa sioned their composition, and with a full understanding of the sin cerity of the poet's character. In fact, this very stamp of sincerity is the chief beauty of his works : they contain no new thoughts or striking creations of imagination, but are pervaded by only one sentiment, the glory of fighting end dying for "fatherland," expressed in a variety of shapes. Korner evidently had a perception of the higher poetical beauties; but hirrbest poems aro those which seem the more uopolished effusions of the moment, and exhibit the feeling quite unadorned. Snch is his spirited song 'Manner und Buben' Men and Cowards'). The happiest effort of imagination is his • Schwert-lied ' Sword-song'), in which the sword becomes a person and addresses its owner ; a piece which has been translated (not very closely) by Lord F. L. Gower. English translations of other of his poems and ballade have been published ; also The Life of Karl Theodor Korner, written by his Father, with selections from his Poems, Tales, and Dramas, translated from the German by G. F. Richardson,' 2 vols. 8vo.