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Johan Ludwig Uhland

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Johann Ludwig Uhland
26 April 1787 ~ 13 November 1862
was a German poet

Ludwig Uhland Stamp ~ 1987

He was born in Tubingen, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, but also took an interest in medieval literature. Having graduated as a doctor of laws in 1810, he went to Paris for a few months; and from 1812 to 1814 he worked as a lawyer in Stuttgart, in the bureau of the minister of justice.

He had begun his career as a poet in 1807 and 1808 by contributing ballads and lyrics to Seckendorff's Musenalmanach; and in 1812 and 1813 he wrote poems for Kerner's Poetischer Almanack and Deutscher Dichterwald. In 1815 he collected his poems in a volume entitled Vaterländische Gedichte, which almost immediately secured a wide circle of readers. To almost every new edition he added some fresh poems. His two dramatic works Ernst, Herzog von Schwaben (1818) and Ludwig der Baier (1819) are unimportant in comparison with his Gedichte.

As a lyric poet, Uhland must be classed with the writers of the romantic school. Like them, he found in the Middle Ages the subjects which appealed most strongly to his imagination. Yet his style has a precision, suppleness and grace which distinguish his most characteristic writings from those of the romantics. Uhland wrote poems in defence of freedom, and in the states assembly of Wurttemberg he played a distinguished part as one of the most vigorous and consistent of the liberal members.

In 1829 he was made honorary professor of German literature at the University of Tubingen, but he resigned in 1833, when the post was found to be incompatible with his political views. In 1848 he became a member of the Frankfurt Parliament that convened in the course of the 1848 revolution.

The first monument one will see when visiting Tubingen is the statue of Johan Ludwig Uhland on Uhlandstrasse near the Tubigen Central Railroad Station. He was a linguist, poet, and collector of traditional folk songs and legends. He was born, worked, taught and died in Tubingen. His thought was liberal and he has been loved and respected in Tubingen.

Johann Ludwig Uhland, Poet
1787-1862
Tubingen

Uhland, Texas located just south of Austin (capital of Texas) is named in his honor.

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