Johannes Carsten Hauch (12 May 1790 – 4 March 1872) was a Danish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Biography

Hauch was born in

Frederikshald Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish mu ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. His father was the Danish

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in Smaalenene, Frederik Hauch. His mother, Karen Tank was sister of Norwegian ship merchant and parliament president

Carsten Tank Carsten Tank (24 April 1766 – 28 January 1832) was a Norwegian businessman and politician who served as Norwegian councilor of government of the 1st Ministry (finance and taxes, March–November 1814), and later councilor of state of the same ...

. In 1802 Hauch lost his mother, and in 1803 returned with his father to Denmark. In 1807 he fought as a volunteer against the English invasion. He entered the

university of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

in 1808, and in 1821 took his doctors degree. He became the friend and associate of Steffens and Oehlenschläger, warmly adopting the romantic views about poetry and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. His first two dramatic poems, ''The Journey to Ginistan'' and ''The Power of Fancy'', appeared in 1816, and were followed by a lyrical drama, ''Rosaurn'' (1817); but these works attracted little or no attention. Hauch therefore gave up all hope of fame as a poet, and resigned himself entirely to the study of science. He took his doctors degree in

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in 1821, and went abroad to pursue his studies. At

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, but returned to Copenhagen when war broke out in 1848. About this time his dramatic talent was at its height, and he produced one admirable tragedy after another; among these may be mentioned ''Svend Grathe'' (1841); ''The Sisters at Kinnekullen'' (1849); ''Marshal Sag'' (1850); ''Honour Lost and Won'' (1851) and ''Tycho Brahe's Youth'' (1852). From 1858 to 1860 Hauch was director of the Danish National Theatre; he produced three more tragedies: ''The King's Favourite'' (1859); ''Henry of Navarre'' (1863); and ''Julian the Apostate'' (1866). In 1861 he published another collection of ''Lyrical Poems and Romances'' and in 1862 the historical epic of ''Valdemar Seir''. From 1851, when he succeeded Oehlenschläger, to his death, he held the honorary post of professor of

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

at the university of Copenhagen. He died in Rome in 1872, and was buried at the

Cimitero acattolico The Non-Catholic Cemetery (), also referred to as the Protestant Cemetery () or the English Cemetery (), is a private cemetery in the rione of Testaccio in Rome. It is near Porta San Paolo and adjacent to the Pyramid of Cestius, a small-scale ...

. Hauch was one of the most prolific of the Danish poets. His lyrics and romances in verse are always line in form and often strongly imaginative. In all his writings, but especially in his tragedies, he displays a strong bias in favor of what is mystical and supernatural. Of his dramas ''Marshal Stig'' is perhaps the best, and of his novels the patriotic tale of ''Vilhelm Zabern'' is admired the most. Hauch's novels were collected (1873–1874) and his dramatic works (3 volumes, 2nd edition, 1852–1859).

References

* This work in turn cites: **

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

, ''Carsten Hauch'' (1873) in ''Danske Digtere'' (1877) ** F. Rønning, ''J. C. Hauch'' (1890) ** ''Dansk Biografisk-Lexicon'', (volume vii. Copenhagen, 1893)
Poems
by Johannes Carsten Hauch {{DEFAULTSORT:Hauch, Carsten 1790 births 1872 deaths Danish male dramatists and playwrights Danish male poets University of Copenhagen alumni 19th-century Danish poets 19th-century Danish dramatists and playwrights 19th-century Danish male writers