Schack von Staffeldt

Adolph Wilhelm Schack of Staffeldt ( born March 28, 1769 in Garz / Rügen, † December 26, 1826 in Gottorp, Schleswig -Holstein ) was the first Romantic poet in Denmark.

Life

Schack of Staffeldt came from the old Pomeranian noble family Staffeldt, but decided to be Dane. He is still regarded as the antipode Adam Oehlenschläger. The young Schack of Staffeldt was torn inside; he suffered the dilemma of his being and existence. During this time he represented rather the dark side of romance. The more he became interested in philosophy as the foundation of poetry in general. Thus, the abstract language of philosophy often went directly into his poetry.

From 1778 to 1786 Schack was of Staffeldt cadet at the Academy cadets country. From 1791 to 1793 he studied in Göttingen. Here he broke away from the spirit of the Danish Enlightenment, in which he had grown up and educated. This change was brought about mainly by the encounter with the works of Herder and Schiller. Herder gave him a new, organic view of nature; nature is the "father of things." Schiller remained all his life his model, by which he arrived at a new, classical conception of poets and poetry. The stay in Göttingen made ​​from the unfortunates desperate one for the future enthusiasts. He found in the philosophy of Schelling the spiritual foundation on which his romance based. Now he succeeded in the synthesis of subject and object.

Five years, from 1795 - 1800 he undertook so-called educational trips. They led him through Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. His letters and the resulting traveling poems as well as his detailed diary Vienna were regularly read in the salons of the nobility in Denmark.

As a large Danish national poet, he himself saw in himself, he was not perceived during his lifetime. Instead, that honor his contemporary Adam Oehlenschläger was given. How he stood with Oehlenschläger in competition, was 1804, when he ( poems) published his book " defendant ". Under the same title Oehlenschläger had a year before his works published and Schack of Staffeldt emphasized in the preface that his poetry had arisen earlier than that of his collaborator. Nevertheless celebrated Denmark Oehlenschläger, Schack of Staffeldt has been overlooked. He related this defeat and never turned away disappointed from the literature.

With 41 years of Schack was Staffeldt 1810 District Cismar, three years later district in Schleswig.