Körner

Körner, KARL THEODOR, a patriotic German poet, the son of Schiller's friend, Christian G. Körner, was born at Dresden, 23d September 1791. After irregular studies at Freiberg, Leipzig, and Berlin, young Körner, through Kotzebue's influence, was appointed dramatist to a Vienna theatre; for it he wrote some light comedies, such as Der Grüne Domino and Der Nachtwächter, and some tragedies, of which Zriny, a work full of noble enthusiasm, was the most successful. The uprising of the German nation against Napoleon inspired Körner with patriotic ardour. He joined Lützow's celebrated corps, and not only displayed heroic personal courage in many encounters, but encouraged his comrades by fiery patriotic songs. These, published in 1814 under the title of Leier und Schwert (Eng. trans. Lyre and Sword, 1839), are regarded by the Germans with a kind of sacred admiration, and have gone through a great number of editions. The most famous of these pieces is the Schwert-Lied, composed in a pause of battle, and only a few hours before the author fell in a skirmish, between Schwerin and Gadebusch, on 26th August 1813. He was buried near Wöbbelin; there his father and mother and sister were also interred. A collected edition of his works in one volume (Berlin, 1834; new ed. 1879) was published by Streckfuss. A biography of the poet, written by his father, has been translated into English, 'with selections from his poems, tales, and dramas,' by G. F. Richardson (Lond. 2 vols. 1845). A museum of Körneriana was formed at Dresden in 1873. See Lives by Lehmann (1819), Erhard (1821), and Bauer (1883); also Jonas' life of his father (1881).