August Kopisch (26 May 1799 – 6 February 1853) was a German poet and painter.

Biography

Kopisch was born on 26 May 1799 in Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland). In 1815 he began studying painting at the

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

academy, but an injury to his hand damaged his prospects of success as an artist, and he turned to literature. After residences in

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 ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Kopisch proceeded in 1822 to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. At

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

he became close friends with the poet August von Platen-Hallermünde; and when out swimming he and the painter Ernst Fries discovered the " Blue Grotto" of Capri. In 1828 he settled at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and was granted a pension by Frederick William IV of Prussia, who in 1838 conferred upon him the title of professor. In 1847 he moved to

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

and wrote an account of royal residences there and in the neighborhood. He died on 6 February 1853 at Berlin.

Works

Kopisch produced some original poetry, light in language and in form. He specialised in re-telling legends and popular subjects, and among his ''Gedichte'' (Berlin, 1836) are some naïve and humorous little ballads such as ''Die Historie von Noah'', ''Die Heinzelmännchen zu Köln'', ''Das grüne Tier'' and ''Der Schneiderjunge von Krippstedt'', which became popular. He also published a translation of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...

'' (Berlin, 1840), and under the title ''Agrumi'' (Berlin, 1838) a collection of translations of Italian folk songs.

Literature

*''Agrumi, volksthümliche Posien aus allen Mundarten Italiens und seiner Inseln''. Crantz Verlag, Berlin 1838. *''Allerlei Geister. Gedichte und Erzählungen''. Mörike Verlag, München 1913 (mit der Ballade ''Die Heinzelmännchen zu Köln'') *Dieter Richter (Hrsg.): '' Entdeckung der blauen Grotte auf der Insel Capri''. Wagenbach Verlag, Berlin 1997, *''Die göttliche Komödie des

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

. Metrische Uebersetzung nebst beigedrucktem Originaltexte''. Brachvogel & Raubtiere, ist sehr berühmt geworden. *''Gedichte'' (1836) *''Die

Heinzelmännchen The Heinzelmännchen () are a mythical race of creatures, appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany akin to gnomes, or elves. The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during t ...

zu Köln''. Emons, Köln 2007, . *''Ein Karnevalsfest auf Ischia''. Hausen, Saarlouis 1892. *''Die königlichen Schlösser und Gärten zu Potsdam. Von der Zeit ihrer Gründung bis zum Jahre 1852''. Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1854. *''Mein allererstes Märchenbuch: Die Heinzelmännchen zu Köln''. Edition Paletti, Köln 2004, . *''Der Träumer''. Hübener, Berlin 1948. *Carl Böttcher (Hrsg.): ''Gesammelte Werke'' (Collected works). Weidmann, Berlin 1856 (5 Bde.) *''Der Krater des Vesuvs mit der Eruption von 1828'' (1828) *''Ein Schiff auf dem Meere von Delphinen umschwärmt'' *''Die Pontinischen Sümpfe'' (1848)

Notes

References

External links

August Kopisch at Web Gallery of Art

Works by August Kopisch
at Projekt Gutenberg-DE * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kopisch, August German poets 1799 births 1853 deaths Writers from Wrocław People from the Province of Silesia Capri, Campania German male poets 19th-century poets 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers