Poet and philologist, born at Fallersleben; studied literature and philology under the influence of the Grimms, and in 1835 was appointed professor of the German Language at Breslau, a post he forfeited seven years later by publishing "Lays" of somewhat radical tendencies; he led an unsettled life till 1860, when he became librarian to the Duke of Ratibor; his writings include "German Social Songs of the 16th and 17th Centuries," "German Philology," an "Autobiography" in six vols., lyrics, &c. (1798-1874).