CHAMISSO, Adalbertvon (1781-1838), poet, botanist, and voyager, was by family, birth, and the education of childhood, a Frenchman, by his after-life, his marriage, and his literary activity, a German. He was born in 1781 at the castle of Boncourt in Champagne, and traced his descent from a respectable line of French knights, who derived their title from the ancient town of Chamesson or Cambisonum, near Châtillon-sur-Seine. The quiet home-life at Boncourt was broken up by the Revolution in 1790, and the Chamissos, parents and children, were forced, like so many of their rank, to leave their country, and find such footing as might chance in a foreign land. And though in after years the main part of the family was permitted to settle again on their native soil, several of the younger members were left behind, where they had begun to take root. Of these was Adalbert, who had in 1796 obtained a situation as page to the queen of Prussia, and in 1798 entered the military service with the rank of ensign. To his professional studies he devoted himself with ardour, and he attracted the royal attention by some of his writings; but in the society of his comrades he was made bitterly to feel that he was not regarded as one of themselves, and it was not altogether with regret that he found himself in 1806 set free from the army. Meanwhile he had formed a friendship with several congenial spirits, such as Hitzig, Varnhagen von Ense and Neumann; and with the last two he joined in the publication of the Musenalmanach, which first appeared in 1803. A visit to Madame de Stael at Coppet was a pleasing interruption to his ordinary course of life, and has afforded the reader of his letters some amusing description of that eccentric woman, who alternately flattered Chamisso for his ability ...and scolded him soundly for his inattention to etiquette. The study of botany, which he began at Coppet, was prosecuted with so much persistence and success that it became his professional subject. In 1815 he was chosen botanist of the expedition for the circumnavigation of the world, which was originated by Romanzυfl) and conducted by Kotzebue; and on his return in 1818 he was appointed custodian of the botanical gardens at Berlin. Much to his own advantage and comfort, he obtained the hand of Antonie Piaste, a young lady of eighteen years; and the rest of his life was spent in steady professional labour, relieved by kindly intercourse with an increasing circle of friends. Among those with whom he became acquainted were August Neander, Freiligrath, and Andersen.
It cannot be said of Chamisso, as he himself affirmed of Heine, that he was a poet to the very tips of his fingers; but the poetic element in his nature was genuine and strong, and, in spite of the unfavourable circumstances of his life, his tendency towards literary expression was very early displayed. In estimating his success as a writer, it should not be forgotten that he was cut off from his native speech and from his natural current of thought and feeling. None of his works perhaps can be called great; but he has none the less enriched his adopted language with several poems of undisputed and enduring value. He often deals with gloomy and sometimes with ghastly and repulsive subjects; and even in his lighter and gayer productions there is too frequently an undertone of sadness or of satire. In the lyrical expression of the domestic emotions he displays a fine felicity, and he knows how to pour true pathos into a tale of love or vengeance. The “Lion’s Bride”— Die Lowenbraut — may be taken as a simple of his weird and powerful simplicity; and “Retribution,”— Vergeltung — is remarkable for a pitiless precision of treatment. The “Song of Women’s Devotion ”— Ein Lied von der Weibertreue — might find a place in the Ingoldsby Legends; and “Cousin Anselmo”— Vetter Anselmo — is worthy to rank with the ballads of Southey. Of more celebrity perhaps than any of his poems is the little prose narrative of Peter Schlemihl, the man who lost his shadow, which first appeared in 1814, and was soon afterwards translated into several European languages. It was written partly to divert his own attention from gloomier thoughts, and partly to afford amusement to the children of his friend Hitzig; and the plot was suggested by a casual question of Fouqué’s. First and prominently a genuine story such as children love, with full allowance of incident and fun, it is also to the older and sympathetic reader an allegory only too accurate of the poet’s own life. For full details see the Leben und Briefe, by Hitzig, in the fifth and sixth volumes of Chamisso’s Werke.
Works.— Uebersicld der nützbarsten und schädlichsten Gewächse in Nοrddxutschland, 1827; Reise um die Welt; Bemerkungen und Ansichten auf einer Entdeckungsreise unter Kotzebue, 1827; Ucber die Hawaiische Sprache, 1837.
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