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Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829)
Schlegel, Friedrich von (shlā’gel). A distinguished German critic and philologist, son of J. A.; born at Hanover, March 10, 1772; died at Dresden, Jan. 12, 1829. He first devoted himself to the study of Greek antiquity, and in 1794 published his great essay ‘On the Schools of Grecian Poetry’; ‘The Greeks and Romans’ (1797), and ‘History of Greek and Roman Poetry’ (1798). In his ‘Fragments’ (1798–1800) he essayed to establish the theory of a new romanticism; in the meantime writing the unfinished romance ‘Lucinda,’ and a volume of ‘Poems.’ To this period also belongs his tragedy ‘Alarcos,’ in which he unsuccessfully sought to combine romantic and classic elements. Among his other writings are lectures on ‘Language and Wisdom of the Indians’ (1808); ‘Modern History’ (1811); ‘History of Ancient and Modern Literature’ (1815); ‘Philosophy of Life.’ (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).