Friedrich Wilhelm Weber

Friedrich Wilhelm Weber Poems

Friedrich Wilhelm Weber Biography

riedrich Wilhelm Weber (25 December 1813 – 5 April 1894) was a German doctor, politician of the Prussian House of Deputies, and poet. Weber was born in Alshausen, near Bad Driburg, in Westphalia. His father was forester for the Count of Asseburg. Weber first attended the village school, then when thirteen years old he went to the Gymnasium at Paderborn, and afterwards studied medicine at the University of Greifswald. His talent for poetry had been evidenced at the gymnasium; at university, it grew. After spending two years at Greifswald he went to Breslau, where he became acquainted with Gustav Freitag. After a year, however, he returned to Greifswald, where he obtained a doctorate; thence he went to Berlin, where he passed the state medical examination with great honour. After a brief journey for recreation to southern Germany he settled as a physician in Driburg, where he spent twenty-six years. His practice as a doctor did not keep him from writing poetry. In 1887 he settled permanently at Nieheim. In 1863 he was made Sanitätsrat (honorary title given to a distinguished doctor) in recognition of his medical services; he was made an honorary doctor of philosophy by the academy in Munich, and when he celebrated his semi-centennial as a physician he received the Order of the Red Eagle, fourth class, while three years before his death he received the further honour of the title of Geheimen Sanitätsrat. He was elected a member of the Prussian House of Deputies. He remained a member of the Centre Party until 1893, when he declined a re-election on account of his health. His poetry fell into the genres of epic, lyric, and didactic. His early poems were frequently imitations of foreign poets. He was also one of the translators who made Scandinavian and English poetry accessible to Germans, including Tennyson's Enoch Arden, Aylmers Field and Maud, and Esaias Tegnér's Axel. His reputation, however, was founded on his epic, Dreizehnlinden (1878). It enjoyed a wide circulation, and was arranged for the stage; he was nicknamed 'Dreizehnlinden-Weber' after it. His second work is his Goliath (1892). His Gedichte(1881) and Herbstblätter (1895) were published after his death. Other works include Marienblumen (1885), and two other religious poems written for special occasions, Vater unser and Das Leiden unseres Heilandes (1892).)

The Best Poem Of Friedrich Wilhelm Weber

Alte Geschichten

Der Abend dämmert, es wirbelt der Wind
den Schnee von dem hohen Dache,
Großmütterchen sitzt am warmen Kamin
mit den Kleinen im warmen Gemache.
„Erzähl uns etwas, Großmütterlein!' –
„Recht gern, ihr närrischen Dinger,
ihr müsst nur brav und bescheiden sein!'
Und mahnend hebt sie den Finger.
Dann fängt sie an: „Es war einmal ....',
und die Kinder, sie lauschen und lauschen.
Sie hören das Bellen des Hofhunds nicht
und des Sturmes Zischen und Rauschen,
und nicht das Schlagen der Schwarzwalduhr
und der Stunde rasches Verrinnen.
Sie sitzen und horchen mit Mund und Ohr,
versenkt in Träumen und Sinnen.
Großmutter weiß der Geschichten viel
aus fernen vergangenen Tagen,
von Riesen und Zwergen, von Burgen, von Seen,
seltsame Märchen und Sagen;
von Nixen und Elfen, von Rübezahl,
Musikanten und Lumpengesindel,
und wie Dornröschen im Schlaf versank,
gestochen von giftiger Spindel.
Vom Weibe, das tanzt in feurigen Schuh’n,
von sieben Raben und Schwaben,
von Aschenbrödel und Drosselbart
und Hans, dem glücklichen Knaben;
von der großen Stadt, tief unter der See,
Vineta, der schlummernden Leiche,
auch wohl zum Schluß vom Meister Till
schalkhafte, lustige Streiche.
Großmutter weiß der Geschichten so viel,
als Blätter auf Büschen und Bäumen;
die Kinder lauschen mit Ohr und Mund,
versenkt in Sinnen und Träumen.
Und die kleine Marie – sie lächelt und schläft;
still wird es im trauten Gemache,
und der Wind schläft auch, und die Sterne steh’n
hell über dem hohen Dache.

Friedrich Wilhelm Weber Comments