Johannes Carsten Hauch 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...

.

Biography

Hauch was born of Danish parents residing at Frederikshald in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. In 1802 he lost his mother, and in 1803 returned with his father to Denmark. In 1807 he fought as a volunteer against the English invasion. He entered 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 1808, and in 1821 took his doctors degree. He became the friend and associate of Steffens

Henrik Steffens

Henrik Steffens , was a Norwegian-born Danish philosopher, scientist, and poet.He was born at Stavanger, Norway. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents to Copenhagen, where he studied theology and natural science...

 and Oehlenschläger

Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger

Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature.-Biography:He was born in Vesterbro, then a suburb of Copenhagen, on 14 November 1779...

, warmly adopting the romantic views about poetry and philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

.

His first two dramatic poems, The Journey to Ginistan and The Power of Fancy, appeared in 1816, and were followed by a lyrical drama, Rosaurn (1817); but these works attracted little or no attention. Hauch therefore gave up all hope of fame as a poet, and resigned himself entirely to the study of science. He took his doctors degree in zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 in 1821, and went abroad to pursue his studies. At Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

 he had an accident which obliged him to submit to the amputation of one foot.

He returned to literature, publishing a dramatized fairy tale, the Hamadryad, and the tragedies of Bajazet, Tiberius, Gregory VII, in 1828-1829, The Death of Charles V (1831), and The Siege of Maestricht (1832). These plays were violently attacked and enjoyed no success.

Hauch then turned to novel-writing, and published in succession five romances Vilhelm Zabern (1834); The Alchemist (1836); A Polish Family (1839); The isle on the Rhine (1845); and Robert Fulton (1853).

In 1842 he collected his shorter Poems. In 1846 he was appointed professor of Scandinavian languages in Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

, but returned to Copenhagen when war broke out in 1848. About this time his dramatic talent was at its height, and he produced one admirable tragedy after another; among these may be mentioned Svend Grathe (1841); The Sisters at Kinnekullen (1849); Marshal Sag (1850); Honour Lost and Won (1851) and Tycho Brahe's Youth (1852). From 1858 to 1860 Hauch was director of the Danish National Theatre; he produced three more tragedies: The King's Favourite (1859); Henry of Navarre (1863); and Julian the Apostate (1866). In 1861 he published another collection of Lyrical Poems and Romances and ~fl 1862 the historical epic of Valdemar Seir, volumes which contain his best work.

From 1851, when he succeeded Oehlenschläger, to his death, he held the honorary post of professor of aesthetics

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...

 at the university of Copenhagen. He died in Rome in 1872, and was buried at the Cimitero acattolico.

Hauch was one of the most prolific of the Danish poets, though his writings are unequal in value. His lyrics and romances in verse are always line in form and often strongly imaginative. In all his writings, but especially in his tragedies, he displays a strong bias in favor of what is mystical and supernatural. Of his dramas Marshal Stig is perhaps the best, and of his novels the patriotic tale of Vilhelm Zabern is admired the most.

Hauch's novels were collected (1873–1874) and his dramatic works (3 vols., 2nd ed., 1852–1859).