Johannes Carsten Hauch (12 May 1790 – 4 March 1872) was a Danish poet.
Biography
Hauch was born in Frederikshald in Norway. His father was the Danish bailiff in Smaalenene, Frederik Hauch. His mother, Karen Tank was sister of Norwegian ship merchant and parliament president Carsten Tank. In 1802 Hauch lost his mother, and in 1803 returned with his father to Denmark. In 1807 he fought as a volunteer against the English invasion. He entered the university of Copenhagen in 1808, and in 1821 took his doctors degree. He became the friend and associate of Steffens and Oehlenschläger, warmly adopting the romantic views about poetry and philosophy.
His first two dramatic poems, The Journey to Ginistan and The Power of Fancy, appeared in 1816, and were followed by a lyrical drama, Rosaurn (1817); but these works attracted little or no attention. Hauch therefore gave up all hope of fame as a poet, and resigned himself entirely to the study of science. He took his doctors degree in zoology in 1821, and went abroad to pursue his studies. At Nice he had an accident which obliged him to submit to the amputation of one foot.
He returned to literature, publishing a dramatized fairy tale, the Hamadryad, and the tragedies of Bajazet, Tiberius, Gregory VII, in 1828-1829, The Death of Charles V (1831), and The Siege of Maestricht (1832). These plays were violently attacked and enjoyed no success.
