Anna Louisa Karsch

Anna Louisa Karsch (1 December 1722 in Hammer, Silesia – 12 October 1791 in Berlin) was a German autodidact and poet from the Silesia region, known to her contemporaries as "Die Karschin" and "the German Sappho".

Biography

Early life Anna Louisa Karsch was born on a dairy farm. Her father was a beer brewer and her mother was an innkeeper. At six, she was taken away by a great uncle who taught her to read and write in German and as much Latin as he knew. When Karsch's father died, her mother took her back in with the family and introduced the new step-father. The step-father moved the family to Tirschtiegel, where Karsch worked as a cradle rocker, cowherder, and a house maid to a middle class woman. During this time, Karsch met a sheepherder who supplied her with books. Her step-father, unhappy with her reading, hit her for her "Lesesucht" which in German means reading mania. From then on Karsch read in secret. In 1738 at the age of 16 she married a weaver named Hiersekorn and bore two children. In 1745, while pregnant with her third baby Karsch was granted the first divorce in Prussia. The divorce left her penniless, encouraged by her mother Karsch married again. This time to an alcoholic tailor named Karsch. Her second husband took her to central Poland and then on to Fraustadt. Karsch's husband spent most of his time drinking and worked very little.

Becoming a poet Karsch wrote a poem for a widow and daughter of an innkeeper. At the funeral, a relative saw this poem and refused to accept a woman could have written it. The family brought him to meet Karsch who impressed him a great deal. The relative gave Karsch a collection of poetry books. "She began to compose Gelegenheitsdichtungen for weddings and various local celebrations." Karsch fell in love with Gleim, who could not return her affections. However, Gleim published two volumes of her poetry, in 1764 and 1772. Karsch's correspondence, particularly her letters to Gleim, is often seen as another of her literary accomplishments.

Auserlesene Gedichte [Selected Poems] (1764) Einige Oden über verschiedene hohe Gegenstände [Some Odes About Various High Subjects] (1764) Poetische Einfälle. Erste Sammlung [Poetic Ideas, First Collection] (1764) Kleinigkeiten [Trivialities] (1765) Neue Gedichte [New Poems] (1772) Gedichte [Poems] (1792), with biological sketch of her daughter.