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Georg Herwegh Biography

Georg Herwegh Image

HERWEGH, Georg (1817-75). A German poet. He was born at Stuttgart; was educated there, at Maulbronn, and at the theological seminary at Tübingen; forsook theology, which he had begun to study, for literature; and returned to Stuttgart, where he coöperated in Lewald's Europa. In 1841 he was living in Switzerland and published Gedichte eines Lebendigen (last ed., 1896; named in contrast to Pückler's Briefe eines Verstorbenen), political poetry full of the unrest, the dissatisfaction with the existing conditions, and the uncertainty as to what would take its place, that marked the period. These fervent effusions became immensely popular, so that when, after a short trip to Paris, Herwegh journeyed through Germany in 1842, he was greeted with enthusiasm everywhere. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV gave him an audience and assured him that he liked a thoughtful opposition. But the young man lost his head and overstepped all the bounds of conventionality in a letter to the King in December, 1842, and was hurried out of Prussia. At Zurich he found no pleasant reception; he married a rich Jewess and took up his abode in Paris, where he wrote a second volume of Gedichte eines Lebendigen (1844). In this republican tendencies were more plain than ever, but his inspiration seemed weaker. He translated all of Lamartine into German (1843-44). After the revolution of February, 1848, Herwegh made several attempts to carry out his republican ideas by invading Baden at the head of a legion of German and French workingmen, but was defeated by the Württemberg troops and escaped only through the bravery of his wife. Thereafter he lived in retirement in Paris and later in Zurich, at Lichtenthal, near Baden-Baden, and at Liestal, near Basel. The most important work of his later years was the translation of many of Shakespeare's plays. Consult Marcel Herwegh (his son), Briefe von and an Georg Herwegh (Zurich, 1896).