Christian Winther
|
|
Rasmus Villads Christian Ferdinand Winther (July 29, 1796 - December 30, 1876), was a Danish lyric poet.
He was born at Fensmark near Nęstved, where his father was the vicar. He went to the University of Copenhagen in 1815, and studied theology, taking his degree in 1824. He began to publish verse in 1819, but no collected volume appeared until 1828. Meanwhile, from 1824 to 1830, Winther was supporting himself as a tutor, with so much success that in 1830 he was able to travel to Italy on his savings. In 1835 a second volume of lyric poems appeared, and in 1838 a third. In 1841 King Christian VIII of Denmark appointed Winther to travel to Mecklenburg to instruct Princess Mariane, on the occasion of her betrothal to the Crown Prince of Denmark, in the Danish language.
Further collections of lyrics appeared in 1842, 1848, 1850, 1853, 1865 and 1872. When he was over fifty, Winther married. In 1851 he received a pension from the state as a poet, and for the next quarter of a century he resided mainly in Paris. Besides the nine or ten volumes of lyrical verse mentioned above, Winther published The Stag's Flight, an epical romance in verse (1855); In the Year of Grace, a novel (1874); and other works in prose. He died in Paris, but his body was brought to Denmark, and was buried in the heart of the woods.
Reference
- This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.