OEHLENSCHLAGER, ADAM GOTTI.Oli (1779-1850). A great Danish poet and dramatist, horn of German ancestry at Vester bro, near Copenhagen. Tie was irregularly edu cated: was destined first for trade. then for the university, and then went on the stage. After failure as an actor lie studied law, but in 1802 lie quitted law to devote himself to literature. In the symbolie poem auldhornrne he declared his new faith. destroyed older 'verses then in the printer's hands, and composed in haste new ones in their place that made him undisputed head of the new Romantieists. From 1805 to 1809 he trav eled on a Government stipend. visiting Goethe, Madame de Stael, and other noted writers. In ISM he was made professor of ;esthetics at Coismhagen. but did not long retain this posi tion. In 1829 he was crowned by Tegni.r as King of the Singers of the North. Ile was sim ilarly honored at the royal palace in Copen hagen in 1S49„ and his funeral, two months later, was made a national solemnity. nehlenschlliger's importance lies in drama, beginning with Signet Ha »8 .1aftf (1803 ) , followed by a series of national tragedies, Hokon Jar! (1807: English trans. 1875), It in God», Karl dent. Store,
Palnatokr, .t.re/ op Yalborg, l'aeringerac i ifilrluyoord, and thirteen others. together with five of a more general character, of which the first, (or pyqio (German, 1507: Danish, IS]]; English t rans.. is typical. Oehlenschliiger's dramas, like those of other Romanticists, show epic and lyric rather than dramatic qualities. They are genuinely national, most of them rooted in the popular sagas, and they show unrivaled command of language. Through them he gave the Eddas new life. liy his youthful forms (1805) he revealed unexpected lyric possibilities in the Danish language. Of these poems perhaps the dramatic fairy tale .t/addin is most signifi cant. llis later lyric and epie work is not of great ""pt Vordras IGo,I.s of the \ore', Is t9 1, an effort to utilize Norse myth ulogy for modern poetry. Oeldenschliiger's Works are in 26 volumes, comprising dramas, memoirs, miscellaneous prose and verse ( C4raenhagen, 1851-54). For his life consult Arentzen (Copen hagen, 1879) and Nielson (ib., 1879).