HEINRICH WILHELM VON

GERSTENBERG (1737-1823)  , German poet and critic, was born at Tondern in Schleswig on the 3rd of January 1737 . After studying law at Jena he entered the Danish military service and took part in the Russian campaign of 1762 . He spent the next twelve years in Copenhagen, where he was intimate with Klopstock . From 1775 to 1783 he represented Denmark's interests as " Danish Resident " at Lubeck, and in 1786 received a judicial appointment at Altona, where he died on the 1st of November 1823 . In the course of his long life Gerstenberg passed through many phases of his nation's literature . He began as an imitator of the Anacreontic school (Tdndeleien, 1759); then wrote, in imitation of Gleim, Kriegslieder eines danischen Grenadiers (1762); with his Gedicht eines Skalden (1766) he joined the group of " bards " led by Klopstock . His Ariadne auf Naxos (1767) is the best cantata of the 18th century; he translated Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy (1767), and helped to usher in the Sturm und Drang period with a gruesome but powerful tragedy, Ugolino (1768) . But he did perhaps even better service to the new literary movement with his Briefe fiber Merkwurdigkeiten der Literatur (1766-1770), in which the critical principles of the Sturm und Drang—and especially its enthusiasm for Shakespeare,—were first definitely formulated . In later life Gerstenberg lost touch with literature, and occupied himself mainly with Kant's philosophy . His Vermischte Schriften appeared in 3 vols . (1815) . The Briefe fiber Merkwiirdigkeiten der Literatur were republished by A. von Weilen (1888), and a selection of his poetry, including Ugolino, by R .

Hamel, will be found in Kurschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol . 48 (1884) .