Editing Jens Baggesen (section)

==Life==
[[Image:Baggesenseg.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"Baggesen's Oak" (''{{lang|da|Baggesens Eg}}'') at [[Christianssæde]] manor on [[Lolland]] in Denmark, which inspired the poet's ''{{lang|da|Landforvandlingen}}'']]
[[File:Gravesite Jens Immanuel Baggesen Kiel Germany.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Baggesen's grave at Eichhof Cemetery in [[Kiel]], [[Germany]].]]
Baggesen was born at [[Korsør]] on the [[Kingdom of Denmark|Danish]] [[list of Danish islands|island]] of [[Zealand]] on February 15, 1764. His parents were very poor, and he was sent to [[copyist|copy documents]] at the office of the clerk of [[Hornsherred]]{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} [[Traditional districts of Denmark|District]] before he was twelve. He was a melancholy, feeble child, and he attempted [[suicide]] more than once. By dint of indomitable perseverance, he managed to gain an education; in 1782, he entered the [[University of Copenhagen]].<ref name="Gosse 1911">{{EB1911 |inline=1 |last=Gosse |first=Edmund William |author-link=Edmund William Gosse |wstitle=Baggesen, Jens Immanuel |volume=3 |page=200 }}</ref>

His first work—a verse ''Comical Tales'' broadly similar to the later ''Broad Grins'' of [[George Colman the Younger|Colman the Younger]]—took the capital by storm and the struggling poet found himself a popular favorite at age 21.<ref name="Gosse 1911"/> He then tried more serious [[lyric poetry]] and his [[wikt:tact|tact]], elegant manners, and versatility gained him a place in the best society.<ref name="Gosse 1911"/> In March 1789,{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} his success collapsed when his [[Danish opera|opera]] ''[[Holger Danske (opera)|Holger Danske]]'' was received with mockery of its many faults<ref name="Gosse 1911"/> and a heated [[Danish nationalism|nationalist]] controversy over Baggesen's association with [[German people|Germans]].{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} He left Denmark in a rage and spent the next years in [[Holy Roman Empire|Germany]], [[First French Republic|France]], and [[Switzerland]].<ref name="Gosse 1911"/>

In 1790, he married at [[Bern]] and began to write in [[German language|German]]. He published his next poem ''{{lang|de|Alpenlied}}'' ("Alpine Song") in that language, but brought the [[Danish language|Danish]] ''{{lang|da|Labyrinten}}'' ("[[Labyrinth]]") as a peace offering upon his return to [[Denmark]] in the winter. It was received with unbounded homage. Over the next twenty years, he published volumes alternately in Danish and German and wandered across northern Europe before settling principally in [[Paris]]. His most important German work during this period was the 1803 idyllic [[hexameter]] [[epic poetry|epic]] called ''Parthenais''.<ref name="Gosse 1911"/>

Upon his 1806 visit to [[Copenhagen]], he found the young [[Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger|Oehlenschläger]] hailed as the great poet of the day and his own popularity on the wane. He then stayed, engaging in one abusive [[literary feud]] after another, most with the underlying issue that Baggesen was determined not to allow Oehlenschläger to be considered a greater poet than himself. He finally left for Paris in 1820, where he lost his second wife and youngest child in 1822. Suffering a period of [[debtors' prison|imprisonment for his debts]], he fell at last into a hopeless melancholy madness. Having slightly recovered, he determined to see Denmark once more, but died en route at the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]]' hospital in [[Hamburg]] on October 3, 1826. He was buried at [[Kiel]].<ref name="Gosse 1911"/>