The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Kinkel, Gottfried

KINKEL, kĭn'kĕl, Gottfried, German poet and critic: b. Oberkassel, 12 Aug. 1815; d. Zürich, 13 Nov. 1882. Graduated in theology he entered the Protestant ministry where he distinguished himself as an eloquent preacher, lecturer and public speaker. Among his other duties he was lecturer in the University of Bonn from 1836 to 1848, from time to time, though not regularly, his special subjects being poetry, the history of art and ecclesiastical history. His usefulness was cut short in his own country through his getting mixed up in the revolution of 1848. His arrest followed; but he managed to escape and made his way to the United States, where he made his living for some time as a teacher of languages. Later on he was in London and Zürich in the same capacity. But he was never able to return to Germany. It was probably his love of his native country that brought him to Zürich. He was a poet of some power and originality. Among his published works are ‘Gedichte’ (2 vols., 1843); ‘Otto der Schutz,’ a narrative poem of which nearly 100 editions were published (1845); ‘Die altchristliche Kunst’ (1845); ‘Die Ahr, Landschaft; Geschichte und Volksleben’ (1845); ‘Nimrod’ (a tragedy, 1857); ‘Mosaik zur Kunstgeschichte’ (1876); ‘Tanagra, Idyll aus Griechenland’ (1883); and ‘Erzählungen’ (with his wife, Johanna Kinkel, 1849).