Matthias Claudius Biography

Dromo's Den

CLAUDIUS, Matthias (1740-1815). A German poet and author, associated with the Göttingen Hainbund, and known as "Asmus," or "Der Wandsbecker Bote." He was born at Reinfeld, Holstein; studied from 1759 to 1763 at the University of Jena; from 1771 to 1775 was editor, under the name of "Asmus," of the newly established Wundsbecker Bote (whence his surnames), and in 1776 of the Landzeitung, at Darmstadt. In the following year he returned to Wandsbeck, where he henceforth lived. He was appointed in 1788 auditor of the provincial bank of Altona, by the Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, who had also, in 1785, granted him a small annuity. His collected works, published in 1775-1812 (eight parts), with the quaint title Asmus Omnia Sua Secum Portans, were in great part taken from his contributions to the Wandsbecker Bote. His prose is shrewd, aphoristic, with a certain naïve humor; his verse, now buoyantly merry, now patriotic, now in the best sense religious, is always fresh, simple, and sincere. Many of his lyrics, such as "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" and the "Rheinweinlied" beginning "Bekränzt mit Laub," and "Das Kartoffellied" have continued to be popular favorites throughout Germany. He also translated into German Fénelon and other writers, French and English. The collected works have been excellently edited by Redlich (12th ed., Gotha, 1882). For his biography, consult Herbst (Gotha, 1878), and Gerok (Darmstadt, 1881).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. V (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920). 421