1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Storm, Theodor Woldsen

STORM, THEODOR WOLDSEN (1817-1888), German poet and novelist, was born at Husum, in Schleswig, on the 14th of September 1817. Having studied jurisprudence at Kiel and Berlin, where he formed a close friendship with the brothers Theodor and Tycho Mommsen, he settled in his native town as advocate; but, owing to his German sympathies, lost his post in 1853. Entering the Prussian service as assessor at Potsdam, he was appointed district judge at Heiligenstadt. After the Danish War of 1864 Storm returned to Husum, and after filling various judicial appointments in the district, retired on a pension and died at Hademarschen on the 4th of July 1888. Storm is hardly less remarkable as a lyric poet than as a novelist. As the former, he made his début, with the two Mommsens, with Liederbuch dreier Freunde (1843); but his Gedichte (1852; 12th edition, 1900) first obtained for him general recognition. As a novelist he gained his first great success with Immensee (1852; 51st edition, 1901); and this was followed by numerous other short stories. He was never weary of painting the scenes of rustic simplicity and the quiet joys of the simple life. He is at his best when dealing retrospectively with episodes and incidents from his own earlier life. Later he passed to psychological problems with Aquis submersus (1877) and Zur Chronik von Grieshuus (1884), and made a deep impression with his fantastic Schimmelreiter (1888).

Storm's Gesammelte Schriften appeared in 19 vols. between 1868 and 1889; new edition in 8 vols. (1898). His correspondence with E. Mörike was published in 1891, with G. Keller in 1904. See E. Schmidt, Charakteristiken, i. (1886); also P. Schütze, Theodor Storm, sein Leben und seine Dichtung (1887); F. Wehl, Theodor Storm, ein Bild seines Lebens und Schaffens (1888); A. Biese, Th. Storm und der moderne Realismus (1888); and P. Remer, Theodor Storm als norddeutscher Dichter (1897).