Johannes Ewald was a Danish national dramatist and poet.

Biography

Ewald, normally regarded as the most important Danish poet of the 2nd half of the 18th Century, led a short and troubled life, marked by alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

 and poor health. The son of a Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 pietist vicar, Enevold Ewald, the grandson of pietist Marie Wulf

Marie Wulf

Marie Wulf , was a Danish preacher; a pietist and later a follower of the Moravian Church.-Background:Wulf moved to Copenhagen to keep household for her brother Conrad, a clerk at the royal court, from the border to Germany, where pietism was strong. She married the builder Mathias Wulf in ca. 1714...

, and fatherless from an early age, he was educated as a theologian, but his real interest was in literature. An unhappy love for a girl, Arendse, inspired his later poetry deeply (his description of this love is the first “modern” Danish poetic treatment of the subject). After a time as a soldier and war hero in the Prussian Seven Years’ War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

 he was 1760 brought back seriously weakened. The following years were spent living as a bohemian and writing poetry in Copenhagen; they were also a time of alcoholism and conflicts with his mother and stepfather (for most of his life he was under their tutelage and he never took up a profession). His lifestyle had much in common with his contemporary Johan Herman Wessel

Johan Herman Wessel

thumb|Johan Herman WesselJohan Herman Wessel was a Norwegian-Danish poet. Some of his satirical poems are still popular.-Biography:...

, but, as writers they differed greatly.

From 1773-75 he had a rather happy convalescence at Rungstedlund

Rungstedlund

Rungstedlund, also known as the Karen Blixen Museum, is a country house in Rungsted on the Øresund coast just north of Copenhagen, Denmark, notable for its association with the author Karen Blixen, who lived there for most of her life...

 (later the home of Karen Blixen

Karen Blixen

Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke , , née Karen Christenze Dinesen, was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. She also wrote under the pen names Osceola and Pierre Andrézel...

). Ewald wrote some of his best verses during this time, but a conflict with his family led to his removal to the small North Zealand town of Humlebæk (1775-77), which depressed him and worsened his alcoholism. Finally, friends brought him to Søbækshus, near Helsingør, and where he lived for some years under growing public interest and literary fame, until his early death, caused by drinking and rheumatism

Rheumatism

Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...

.

Quite until the days of romanticism Ewald was considered the unsurpassed Danish poet. Today he is probably more lauded than read; though considered classics, only few of his works have become popular.

Works

As an author Ewald is a prominent representative of Danish sentimentalism but at the same time a forerunner of romanticism. His main inspiration was German poetry (Klopstock

Klopstock

Klopstock * Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , a German poet** 9344 Klopstock , a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on 1991 by F. Borngen...

), but British writers like Edward Young

Edward Young

Edward Young was an English poet, best remembered for Night Thoughts.-Early life:He was the son of Edward Young, later Dean of Salisbury, and was born at his father's rectory at Upham, near Winchester, where he was baptized on 3 July 1683. He was educated at Winchester College, and matriculated...

 and Sterne

Sterne

Sterne may mean* Jaques Sterne, uncle of Laurence Sterne, and Precentor of York Minster* Laurence Sterne , an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman...

, as well as Rousseau, are obvious inspirations as well. Violent expressions of feeling (happiness, sorrow and love) are typical in his writing; these elements are apparently spontaneous but, at the same time, deliberately and artificially drawn up. Behind this a clear pietist tune is felt.

Several Ewald poems are Danish classics. He had his break-through with a melodious and expressive commemorative poem at the death of King Frederick V

Frederick V of Denmark

Frederick V was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.-Early life:...

 (1766). The famous Rungsteds Lyksaligheder (1773 - "The Happiness of Rungsted") is an ode to the Creator. (Rungsted is a city on Sjælland) Ode til Sjælen (“For the Soul”) is a worthy hailing of Man’s uniqueness. Til min M*** (“For my M(oltke)) is a grateful praise for a noble benefactor, during the unhappy Humlebæk period. The hymn Udrust Dig, helt fra Golgatha (“Arm Yourself, Hero of Golgatha”, 1781), practically written on his death-bed, must be mentioned. Minor humorous verses and satires are less known today.

Just as important are Ewald's dramas. Ewald was the first to rely heavily on Norse mythology, a trend which begins to point towards romanticism. He wrote the plays Rolf Krage in 1770, Balders Død (Eng. transl. "The Death of Balder", 1889) in 1773, and Fiskerne (The Fishermen) in 1779. From the latter play one song is still remembered by most Danes: King Christian stood by the lofty mast that shares the position of being the national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

 of Denmark (the other is Oehlenschläger's "There is a lovely Land").

Ewald's main prose work was the unfinished autobiography Levnet og Meninger (“Life and Opinions”, written 1774-78, published 1804-08).

External links