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Ludwig Uhland | |
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 Portrait of Uhland by Gottlob Wilhelm Morff,c. 1818 | |
| Born | Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-04-26)April 26, 1787 |
| Died | November 13, 1862(1862-11-13) (aged 75) Tübingen,Kingdom of Württemberg |
| Occupation | Philologist |
| Political party | Old Liberals |
| Movement | Romanticism |
| Spouse | Emilie Auguste Uhlandnée Vischer |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Ludwig Joseph Uhland |
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Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was aGermanpoet,philologist,literary historian,lawyer andpolitician.
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He was born inTübingen,Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest in medieval literature, especially old German and French poetry. Having graduated as a doctor of laws in 1810, he went toParis for eight months to continue his studies of poetry; and from 1812 to 1814 he worked as a lawyer inStuttgart, in the bureau of the minister of justice.
He began his career as a poet in 1807 and 1808 by contributing ballads and lyrics to Seckendorff'sMusenalmanach; and in 1812 and 1813 he wrote poems forKerner'sPoetischer Almanach andDeutscher Dichterwald. In 1815 he collected his poems in a volume entitledVaterländische Gedichte, which almost immediately secured a wide circle of readers. To almost every new edition he added some fresh poems. His two dramatic worksErnst, Herzog von Schwaben (1818) andLudwig der Baier (1819) are unimportant in comparison with hisGedichte.
As a lyric poet, Uhland must be classed with the writers of theGerman romantic movement. Like them, he found theMiddle Ages appealed most strongly to his imagination. Yet his style has a precision, suppleness and grace which distinguish his most characteristic writings from those of the other German romantics. Like them, Uhland wrote poems in defense of human liberty, and in the states assembly of theKingdom of Württemberg, he played a distinguished part as one of the most vigorous and consistent of theOld Liberals among its members.
In 1815,Württemberg was to be granted a new constitution, replacing the old constitution of theEstates of Württemberg (Landstände) which had been abolished in 1806. Uhland became a prominent proponent of the old rights of the estates during the controversy of the following years, which ended in a compromise in 1819 underWilliam I of Württemberg. Uhland went on to serve in the newly created parliament (Landtag) from 1819 until 1826.
In 1829 he was made honorary professor ofGerman literature at theUniversity of Tübingen, but he resigned in 1833, when the post was found to be incompatible with his political views. In 1848 he became a member of theFrankfurt Parliament that convened in the course of the1848 revolution.
As a Germanic and Romancephilologist, Uhland must be counted among the founders of that science. Besides the treatiseUeber das altfranzösische Epos (1812) and an essayZur Geschichte der Freischiessen (1828), there are to be especially mentionedWalther von der Vogelweide, ein altdeutscher Dichter (1822);Der Mythus von Thôr (1836), the result of the most painstaking original investigation; and the masterly collectionAlte hoch- und niederdeutsche Volkslieder (1844–45; 3d ed. 1892). His poetical works were repeatedly published asGedichte und Dramen, while his scientific work is embodied inSchriften zur Geschichte der Dichtung und Sage, edited by Holland, Keller, and Pfeiffer (1865–72).
He died on 13 November 1862 inTübingen.
Longfellow translated some of his pieces into English. Alexander Platt translated hisPoems (Leipzig, 1848),W. W. Skeat hisSongs and Ballads (London, 1864), and W. C. Sandars hisPoems (1869).
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