Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff

Portrait of Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff
Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff 1788–1857
1788Born

Freiherr Joseph von Eichendorff (March 10, 1788 - November 26, 1857), German lyricist and narrator.

Eichendorff was born at Schloß Lubowitz near Ratibor, to Prussian officer Adolf Freiherr von Eichendorf and his wife, Karoline Freiin von Kloche, a family of catholic aristocracy. He studied law in Halle (1805-1806) and Heidelberg (1807-1808). In 1808 he travelled through Europe, visiting Paris and Vienna. In 1810, he returned home to help his father running the family manor. The same year, he met Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano and Heinrich von Kleist in Berlin. He finished his studies in Vienna in 1812. From 1813 to 1815, he fought in the Befreiungskriege.

In 1821, he became school inspector in Danzig, in 1824 Oberpräsidialrat in Königsberg. He moved with his family to Berlin in 1831, where he worked for several ministries, until he retired in 1844. Eichendorff died 1857 in Neisse (Silesia).

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From readers

What readers say about Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff

  1. On Mondnacht (Night Of The Moon)

    “I know it is very difficult to translate poetry, and particularly so when a poem is written in rhyme. But I do feel disappointed when a lyric so sensitive and fine as this one (and Eichendorff was a great, though unobtrusive lyrist) is translated without the rhyme.”

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  1. Mondnacht (Night Of The Moon)1 comment

The poem

Poems · 1