BO'DENSTEDT, FRIEDRICH MARTIN VON (1819-92). A German poet and journalist. He was born in Peine. April 22, 1819, and educated for commerce; but forced his way to the uni versity, studying in Gottingen, Munich, and Ber lin, after which he lived three years as tutor in Moscow, making excellent translations of poems by Pushkin, Kazloff, and Lermontoff (1843). In 1843 he became instructor in the gymnasium in Titlis, and in 1845 published a translation of Russian folk-songs under the title of Poctisehe Ukraine. In Tiflis he prosecuted Oriental studies under a Tartar teacher (Mirza Schafl'y), and began the translations and echoes of Persian thought which, under the name 'Mirza Schaffy,' suggest FitzGerald's Omar Khayyam. Later he traveled widely in the Caucasus and the East, and as a result wrote Die Volker des Caucasus 'Ind ibre Freiheitskiimpfe gegen die Russet( (1848) and Tausend and fin Tag Ent Orient (18150). Poems from this book, with others, were collected as Licder des Srhaffy (1856). Their warm imagery, their s(msuous joyousness, and their melodious charm claimed general applause. The book has passed through
a hundred and fifty editions, and has been trans lated into nearly all European languages. A continuation, A us dem Naelzlass des 11 irza Schaff!, (1874). was more serious and less suc cessful. Bodenstedt was for a tinic a very effi cient director of the noted theatre in Meiningen. In 1881 he lectured in the United States. rout A tlantischen zum Stillen Ocean (1882) is an account of this journey. llis part in the trans lation of Shakespeare's works, undertaken by the German Shakespeare Society, is also note worthy, as are his autobiographical Erinnerun yen aus meinem Leben. Ile wrote many tales and some dramas, but his talent showed to great est advantage in his translations and adapta tions. Ile made himself a permanent place in German literature as the poet of Mirza Schaffy. Consult Stern, Studien cur Li.ttcratur der Gegen wart (Dresden, 1895).