The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fischer, Johann Georg

FISCHER, Johann Georg, German poet: b. Gross Süssen, Würtemberg, 25 Oct. 1816; d. Stuttgart, 4 May 1897. From 1833-85 he held various positions as school teacher, most of the time in connection with schools in Stuttgart. Early in life he showed deep interest in nature and many of his poems show this influence. He excelled in popular songs and ballads; and in his love songs nobly idealized nature and passion. He wrote four dramas: ‘Saul’ (1862); ‘Friedrich II von Hohenstaufen’ (1863); ‘Florian Geyer’ (1866); ‘Kaiser Maximilian von Mexico’ (1868). In ‘Aus dem Leben der Vögel’ (1863) he notes the characteristic phenomena of the psychic life of animals with the acuteness of a naturalist and the sympathy of a poet. His other works, practically all of them published in Stuttgart, were ‘Gedichte’ (1838); ‘Dichtungen’ (1841); ‘Gedichte’ (1854); ‘Neue Gedichte’ (1865); ‘Den Deutschen Frauen’ (1869); ‘Aus Frischer Luft’ (1872); ‘Neue Lieder’ (1876); ‘Merlin. Ein Liederzyklus’ (1877); ‘Der Glückliche Knecht. Ein Idyll’ (1881); ‘Auf dem Heimweg’ (1891); ‘Mit Achtzig Jahren’ (1896). Consult Fischer, H., ‘Erinnerungen an J. G. Fischer von seinem Sonne’ (Tübingen 1897).