Christoph August Tiedge (14 December 1752,

Gardelegen Gardelegen (; nds, Garlä) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Milde, 20 m. W. from Stendal, on the main line of railway Berlin-Hanover. History Gardelegen has a Roman Catholic and three Evangelical chur ...

- 8 March 1841,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

) was a German poet.

Biography

Tiedge was the eldest son of the rector of the Gelehrten Stadtschule in Gardelegen and his wife, and studied law in

Halle, Saxony-Anhalt Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

. In 1788 he went to

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...

, acting for four years as secretary to the Domherr von Steder. After the Domherr died, Tiedge and his family moved to the vicinity of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

. After the death of his wife, von Steder, in 1797, he alternated between living in Halle and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and (from 1805 to 1808) accompanying his friend

Elisa von der Recke Elisabeth "Elisa" Charlotte Constanzia von der Recke (née von Medem; 20 May 1754 – 13 April 1833) was a Baltic German writer and poet. Family Elisa von der Recke was born in Schönberg, Skaistkalne parish, Courland (present-day Skaist ...

through Germany, Switzerland and Italy. From 1819 Tiedge lived with Elisa in Dresden. Placed beyond material care by his friend's last will, he continued to live there after her death until his. Some singable lyrics, of which "Schöne Minka, ich muss scheiden" is an example, first established his reputation, and ''Urania über Gott, Unsterblichkeit und Freiheit'' (1800; 18th ed., 1862), a lyric-didactic poem, inspired by the ethics of

Emanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aes ...

, enjoyed wide popularity in the beginning of the nineteenth century. A kind of sequel to it were the ''Wanderungen durch den Markt des Lebens'' (1833). Among his other poetical efforts, the ''Elegien und vermischte Gedichte'' (1803) met with the greatest success. After his death, the Tiedge Foundation was established in Dresden for the purpose of caring for the poet's grave and of granting subventions to poets and artists or their widows and children. Administered by the Saxon Ministry of Public Instruction, its funds amounted to more than 662,000 marks in 1901.

Sources

* This work in turn cites: ** Falkenstein, ''Tiedges Leben und poetischer Nachlass'' (Leipzig, 1841) ** Eberhard, ''Blicke in Tiedges und Elisas Leben'' (Berlin, 1844) ** Kern, ''Beiträge zu einer Charakteristik des Dichters Tiedge (Berlin, 1896) 1752 births 1841 deaths People from Gardelegen German poets Writers from Saxony-Anhalt German male poets University of Halle alumni {{Germany-poet-stub