Friedrich Rückert

Rückert, Friedrich (Schweinfurt, 1788-1866, Neuses nr. Coburg), son of a lawyer in government employment, was educated at Schweinfurt grammar school (1802-5) and at Würzburg (1805-8) and Heidelberg (1808-9) universities. Having decided on an academic career, he qualified at Jena in 1811, but in 1812 abandoned the idea. He took up a school-teaching post at Hanau, but soon resigned and returned home. In the War of Liberation (see Napoleonic Wars) he stayed at home at his parents' request, contributing Geharnischte Sonette (1814) to the war effort. For a time (1815-16) he was on the staff of Cotta's Morgenblatt at Stuttgart, but resigned and spent a year (1817-18) in Italy. On his return he met J. Hammer-Purgstall in Vienna and under his influence began to devote himself to oriental languages. He married in 1821 and subsisted on honoraria and the editorship of the Frauentaschenbuch. His impressive command of oriental philology led in 1826 to appointment as professor at Erlangen, where, however, he felt happy only for a short time. In 1841 he was appointed a professor at Berlin University, but his enthusiasm soon waned, and in 1848 he was given leave to retire on half pay. He settled at Neuses nr. Coburg, where he already owned a property, and devoted his remaining years to scholarship.

Rückert was a fertile and facile poet, and his large output of poetry is more notable for its neat workmanship in various verse forms than for vision or originality. His best work is probably in the Liebesfrühling (1844), in which are collected the poems of his courtship. His outstanding contribution to Germany's poetic heritage was his adoption of Persian and other oriental styles, forms, and subject matter, though he also played a major part in the revival of the sonnet, notably with the collection Amaryllis (1825), written in 1812. His principal poetic publications are Deutsche Gedichte (1814, including Geharnischte Sonette), Kranz der Zeit (1817), Östliche Rosen (1822), Ghaselen (1822), Gesammelte Gedichte (1834-8), and Die Weisheit des Brahmanen (6 vols., 1836-9). The posthumously published Kindertotenlieder (1872) were set by G. Mahler. Rückert also wrote epic poems, Aristophanic comedies, and historical plays, none of which achieved success. Gesammelte poetische Werke (12 vols.), ed. by his son H. Rückert and D. Sauerländer, appeared in 1867-9 and Ausgewählte Werke (2 vols.), ed. A. Schimmel, in 1987.