Frederik Paludan-Müller (February 7, 1809 - December 27, 1876) was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, the third son of Jens Paludan-Müller and born in Kerteminde

Kerteminde

Kerteminde , is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 5,698 . It is a small harbor town surrounded by farms...

, on the Island of Fyn

FYN

Proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Fyn is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the FYN gene.This gene is a member of the protein-tyrosine kinase oncogene family. It encodes a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in the control of cell growth...

.

In 1819 his father was transferred to Odense

Odense

The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...

, and Frederik began to attend the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 school there. In 1828 he passed to the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

.

In 1832 he opened his poetical career with Four Romances, and a romantic comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 entitled Love at Court. This enjoyed a considerable success, and was succeeded in 1833 by Dandserinden ("The Dancing Girl").

Paludan-Müller was accepted by criticism without a struggle, and few writers have excited less hostility. He was not, however, well inspired in his lyrical drama of Amor and Psyche in 1834 nor in his Oriental tale of Zuleimasflugt ("Zuleima's Flight"), in 1835, in each of which he was too vividly influenced by Lord Byron. But he regained all that he had lost by his two volumes of poems in 1836 and 1838.

From 1838 to 1840 Paludan-Müller was making the grand tour

Grand Tour

The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and his genius greatly expanded; in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 he wrote Venus, a lyrical poem of extreme beauty. In the same year, 1841, he began to publish a great work on which he had long been engaged and which he did not conclude until 1848; this was Adam Homo, a narrative epic, satirical, modern and descriptive, into which Paludan-Müller wove all his variegated impressions of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 and of love. It deals with the duality of human personality, the emptiness of social ambition, and the redeeming force of selfless love. This remains a classic of Danish poetical literature.

In 1844 he composed three enchanting idylls, Dryadens bryllup ("The Dryad's Wedding") Tithon ("Tithonus") and Abels Død ("The Death of Abel"). From 1850 a certain decline in the poet's physical energy became manifest and he wrote less. His majestic drama of Kalanus belongs to 1854. Then for seven years he kept silent. Paradiset ("Paradise") 1861; and Benedikt fra Nurcia ("Benedict of Nurcia") 1861; bear evidence of malady, both physical and mental. Paludan-Müller wrote considerably after this, but never recovered his early raptures, except in the very latest of all his poems, the enchanting welcome to death, entitled Adonis.

The poet lived a very retired life, first in Copenhagen, then for many years in a cottage on the outskirts of the royal park of Fredensborg

Fredensborg

Fredensborg is a railway town with a population of 8,377 located in Fredensborg Municipality, Denmark at the railroad between Hillerød and Helsingør....

, and finally in a house in Ny Adelgade, Copenhagen, where he died on the 27th of December 1876.

The work of Paludan-Müller, especially Adam Homo in many ways represents the ultimate idealist demands of Danish romanticism. His strong ethic claims and personal isolation has often made him being compared to the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...

 in spite of their differences. Rather unknown outside Denmark, Paludan-Müller has perhaps however exerted an influence on world literature

World literature

World literature refers to literature from all over the world, including African literature, American literature, Arabic literature, Asian literature, Australasian literature, Caribbean Literature, English literature, European literature, Indian literature, Latin American literature, Persian...

 in that way that the early works of Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

, Brand

Brand

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, Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

, seem to be influenced by his thoughts.

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