Johanna Ambrosius (also Johanna Voigt; 1854–1939) was a German poet. Born to a poor peasant family in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, she received little education and did not start writing poetry until around 1884. Her works were published in various magazines and she came to the attention of Austrian writer Karl Weiß who published a collection of her poems. Her fame peaked in the late 1890s and many of her poems were set to music.

Life and family

Johanna Ambrosius was born on 3 August 1854 in Lengwethen, a village in

, the second of fourteen children of a craftsman. She grew up in poverty and attended the village school in Lengwethen until she was 11. From then on she helped her parents in the fields and in the house and was hired out as a maid and landlady to estates in the area. In 1875, she married Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, the son of a farmer, and moved with him to Dirwonuppen in Kreis Tilsit. They had two children, Marie (born 1875) and Erich (born 1878). In 1883, they acquired a small house with land in Groß Wersmeningken near Lasdehnen in Kreis Pillkallen. Friedrich Voigt died in the summer of 1900. Eight years later, her first child Marie died at the age of 32. Ambrosius followed her son Erich to

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

in 1908, where she lived until her death on 27 February 1939. Her grave is in the Neuen Luisenfriedhof (New Luisen Cemetery) in Königsberg (now

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

Poetry

Ambrosius was writing her first poetry by 1884. Her sister Martha had sent some of her poems, without her knowledge, to several editors, among others to , editor of the weekly magazine ''Von Haus zu Haus''. Subsequently, various magazines published individual poems of hers. As a result, she came to the attention of Austrian writer Karl Weiß, who published a collection of her poems in December 1894. Her poems had "an unusual success as form-oriented products of a woman coming from the most modest circumstances". and as early as 1904 were in their 41st edition. Her poems were accompanied by her portrait and a picture of her home from the seventh edition, published by Ferdinand Beyer in Königsberg. Some of her admirers visited her in Groß Wersmeningken. In 1896, the book of poems was translated into English and first published in the United States, where Ambrosius was celebrated as full of exuberance, even as a "German

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

". A second book of poems followed in 1897. Her later poems appeared in journals and yearbooks, including ''Aus Höhen und Tiefen. Ein Jahrbuch für das deutsche Haus''. She did not publish prose, apart from one short text. Soon after her "discovery", Ambrosius became acquainted, personally and through exchanges of letters, with notable writers of her time including

Hermann Sudermann Hermann Sudermann (30 September 1857 – 21 November 1928) was a German dramatist and novelist. Life Early career Sudermann was born at Matzicken, a village to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia (now Macikai, in southwestern ...

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...

Herman Grimm Herman Grimm (6 January 1828 in Kassel16 June 1901 in Berlin) was a German academic and writer. Family and education Grimm's father was Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), and his uncle Jakob Grimm (1785–1863), the philologist compilers of indigenou ...

, Bruno Wille, and

Heinrich Hart The brothers Heinrich and Julius Hart were German writers and literary critics who collaborated closely. They were among the pioneers of naturalism in German literature. Heinrich was born 30 December 1855, in Wesel and died 11 June 1906, in T ...

. With the exception of some letters to Grimm, her correspondences have not survived. Her fame was short-lived and praise for her "unlearned" poetry was followed by criticism of the "Johanna Ambrosius hype". Participating in the debate over the merits of Ambrosius's work were Carl Busse,

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language Literary realism, realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he i ...

, , Ferdinand Avenarius,

Otto Rühle Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (; 23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First World War, First and Second World Wars as well as a Council communism, council communist theorist. Early years Otto was ...

Arno Holz Arno Hermann Oscar Alfred Holz (26 April 1863 – October 1929) was a German naturalist poet and dramatist. He is best known for his poetry collection ''Phantasus'' (1898). He was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in litera ...

, Ludwig Goldstein, and

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German writer and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

. She herself wrote about her authorship: Ambrosius's best-known work was the 1884 poem "Mein Heimatland" with the opening line "They say all, you are not beautiful", which became famous as the ''Älteres/Erstes Ostpreußenlied'' (Older/First East Prussian Song). Her poems were set to music at least 90 times,Voigt, Werner
Johanna Ambrosius
accessed 4 July 2023. among others by

Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was an Austrian music theory, music theorist #Theoretical writings, whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis ...

and Felix Rosenthal. Her estate was lost when the Voigt family fled Königsberg in early 1945.

Works

* ''Johanna Ambrosius, eine deutsche Volksdichterin. Gedichte'' (1894) * ''Gedichte, 2nd part'' (1897)

References

External links

*
Poems by Johanna Ambrosius
at Open Library

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambrosius, Johanna 1854 births 1939 deaths 19th-century German poets 20th-century German poets Writers from Königsberg German women poets Writers from the Kingdom of Prussia

Life and family

Poetry

Works

References

Further reading

External links