Ewald John

Ewald, John (1743-1781), a Danish poet, was born at Copenhagen and educated in Schleswig. As a boy the reading of Robinson Crusoe made him run away in search of a desert island, and a few years later he ran away again and enlisted in the Prussian army, but being disappointed at being made an artilleryman instead of an hussar, he deserted to Austria, where he might have gained promotion if he would have changed his religion. He was bought off by his friends and returned to Copenhagen, where the success of an elegy upon Frederick V. of Denmark. led him to turn his attention to poetry, and he became renowned for his lyric and tragic poetry. The Death of Balder is the best known of his works, which have been published in 4 vols. The poet died in what was almost poverty. He is the author of King Christian stood by the Lofty Mast, the national hymn of Denmark.