Ferdinand Freiligrath

Ferdinand Freiligrath lived in Unkel 1839/40Ferdinand Freiligrath (17 June 1810 – 18 March 1876) was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement.

Life Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher. He left a Detmold gymnasium at 16 to be trained for a commercial career in Soest. There he also familiarized himself with French and English literature, and before he was 20 had published verses in local journals. This contained his poems "Löwenritt", "Prinz Eugen", and "Der Blumen Rache".

Freiligrath had expressed beliefs that the artist should not be demeaned by becoming involved with politics and criticized the poet Georg Herwegh for his politicized poetry; however, due to political repression (censorship), and the encouragement of fellow poet Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Freiligrath later became more political. In 1844, he surrendered his pension, and in his Glaubensbekenntnis (Confession of Faith) placed his poetic gifts at the service of the democratic agitation that was to culminate in the Revolution of 1848. Such poems as "Trotz alledem" (a translation of Burns's "A man's a man for a' that"), "Die Freiheit", "Das Recht" and "Hamlet" made his absence from Germany expedient.

He left for Belgium In 1843, Franz Liszt set Freiligrath's poem "O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst" to music, published in 1847 — the song was later arranged by Liszt for solo piano as his "Liebesträume" No. 3 (1850), which subsequently became one of his most famous piano pieces. German composer Elise Schmezer set Freiligrath’s text to music in her Lieder, Romanzen und Balladen fur Tenor, opus 4.

Upon his return to Germany, Freiligrath settled in Düsseldorf, It was not long before he had again called down upon himself the ill-will of the ruling powers by a poem, Die Toten an die Lebenden (The Dead to the Living, 1848). He was arrested on a charge of lèse-majesté, but the prosecution ended in his acquittal.

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