Danish poet and archæologist, born in Copenhagen on the 26th of October 1828. He was sent, at the age of nine years, to a relative of his mother in Iceland, to be educated. Returning to Copenhagen in 1848, he devoted himself to the study of law, but soon turned to literature, in which he ranks high, both as poet and scholar. He has also given evidence of considerable power as a prose-writer. Among other works, he has published Rosenborg (1867); De Danske Kongers Kronologiske Samling (1870); Gusle, serbiske Folkesang, paa Dansk (1875); and Islandske Folkesang (1862, 1864, 1867). The two last-mentioned are collections of Serbian and Icelandic folk-tales and ballads. His largest work is Genrebilleder (6 vols., 1867–79); which has passed through many editions, and been translated into German and other tongues. He died at Copenhagen on the 1st of September 1883.
