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HERTZ, HENRIK (1797–1870)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 401 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERTZ, HENRIK (1797–1870) , Danish poet, was See also:born of Jewish parents in See also:Copenhagen on the 25th of See also:August 1798. In 1817 he was sent to the university. His See also:father died in his See also:infancy, and the See also:family See also:property was destroyed in the See also:bombardment of 1807. The boy was brought up by his relative, M. L. Nathanson, a well-known newspaper editor. See also:Young Hertz passed his examination in See also:law in 1825. But his See also:taste was all for polite literature, and in 1826–1827 two plays of his were produced, Mr Burchardt and his Family and Love and Policy; in 1828 followed the See also:comedy of Flyttedagen. In 183o he brought out what was a See also:complete novelty in Danish literature, a comedy in rhymed See also:verse, A mor's Strokes of See also:Genius. In the same See also:year Hertz published anonymously Gengangerbrevene, or Letters from a See also:Ghost, which he pretended were written by See also:Baggesen, who had died in 1826. The See also:book was written in See also:defence of J. L.

See also:

Heiberg, and was full of satirical See also:humour and See also:fine See also:critical insight. Its success was overwhelming; but Hertz preserved his anonymity, and the See also:secret was not known until many years later. In 1832 he published a didactic poem, Nature and See also:Art, and Four Poetical Epistles. A See also:Day on the See also:Island of Als was his next comedy, followed in 1835 by The Only See also:Fault. Hertz passed through See also:Germany and See also:Switzerland into See also:Italy in 1833; he spent the See also:winter there, and returned the following autumn through See also:France to See also:Denmark. In 1836 his comedy of The Savings See also:Bank enjoyed a See also:great success. But it was not till 1837 that he gave the full measure of his genius in the romantic See also:national See also:drama of Svend Dyrings Hus, a beautiful and See also:original piece. His See also:historical tragedy Valdemar Aiterdag was not so well received in 1839; but in 1845 he achieved an immense success with his lyrical drama See also:Kong Rene's Dalier (See also:King Rene's Daughter), which has been translated into almost every See also:European See also:language. To this succeeded the tragedy of Ninon in 1848, the romantic comedy of Tonieita in 1849, A See also:Sacrifice in 1853i The Youngest in 1854. His lyrical poems appeared in successive collections, dated 1832, 1840 and 1844. • From 1858 to 1859 he edited a See also:literary See also:journal entitled Weekly Leaves. His last drama, Three Days in See also:Padua, was produced in 1869, and he died on the 25th of See also:February of the next year.

. Hertz is one of the first of Danish lyrical poets. His poems are full of See also:

colour and See also:passion, his versification has more See also:witch-See also:craft in it than any other poet's of his See also:age, and his See also:style is See also:grace itself. He has all the sensuous See also:fire of See also:Keats without his proclivity to the See also:antique. As a romantic dramatist he is scarcely less original. He has bequeathed to the Danish See also:theatre, in Svend Dyrings Hus and King Rene's Daughter, two pieces which have become classic. He is a See also:troubadour by See also:instinct; he has little or nothing of Scandinavian See also:local colouring, and succeeds best when he is describing the scenery or the emotions of the glowing See also:south. His Dramatic See also:Works (18 vols.) were published at Copenhagen in 1854–1873; and his Poems (4 vols.) in 1851–1862.

End of Article: HERTZ, HENRIK (1797–1870)

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