Hauch

Hauch, HANS CARSTEN, Danish poet, was born at Frederikshald, in Norway, 12th May 1790. His first attempts in literature being unsuccessful, he began to study natural history; but in 1846 was appointed to the chair of Northern Literature in the university of Kiel. Two years later the Holstein revolution drove him back to Copenhagen; and on the death of his friend Oehlenschläger, in 1850, he succeeded him in the chair of Aesthetics at the university there, and held it down to his death, at Rome, 4th March 1872. Hauch's riper and more successful works embrace nine historical tragedies, all written between 1828 and 1850, in which he exhibits great powers of individualising character and portraying the local colouring of his scenes; Lyriske Digte (1842, 1862, and 1869), some of which are extremely beautiful, and enjoy an undisputed popularity in Denmark; and many tales and romances, &c. His epic-dramatic poem Hamadryaden (1830) met with warm appreciation in Germany. At Copenhagen there appeared in 1873-75 Hauch's Samlede Romaner og Fortællinger.