Adam Gottlob Oehlenschlager, a Danish poet, born in Copenhagen, Nov. 14, 1779, died there, Jan. 20, 1850. His father was steward of the royal palace of Frederiksborg, where the son spent his early life. He was sent to school at Copenhagen at the age of 12, and soon after began to write verses and plays which were performed by himself and his schoolmates. His acquaintance with the brothers Oersted led to his studying law in the university of Copenhagen, in 1803 he published a volume of poetry, containing the play of "The Eve of St. John," which with his drama of "Aladdin" procured him a travelling stipend from the government. In Germany he mastered the German language, into which he translated his works. At Halle he wrote " Hakon Jarl," the first and one of the finest of his purely Scandinavian tragedies (English translation by F. C. Luscelles, London, 1874); and at Paris he produced "Palnatoke," considered by some his masterpiece, and "Axel and Valborg," all dramas of powerful interest, At Rome, where he became intimate with Thorwaldsen, he composed "Correggio," which became very popular on the Danish and German stage (English translation by Theodore Martin, 1854). Oehlenschlager returned to Denmark in 1810, and soon afterward became professor of aesthetics at the university of Copenhagen. His works include novels, poems, translations, and a great variety of miscellanies.

On his first visit to Sweden in 1829 he received a brilliant ovation, and his 70th birthday was celebrated with a grand festival in Copenhagen. Of his 24 tragedies, on which his fame chiefly rests, 19 are devoted to Scandinavian subjects. In addition to those mentioned, the most striking are " Canute the Great," " The Varangians in Constantinople," "Land Found and Lost," illustrating the early voyages of the Northmen to America, "Dina," and "Tordenskjold." In his Nordens Guder ("Gods of the North"), published in 1819, he collected the scattered legends of the Eddas. An English metrical translation of this by W. E. Frye was published in Paris in 1845. Oehlenschlager also translated the "Midsummer Night's Dream" and Beskow's Swedish dramas into Danish, and Holberg's "Danish Theatre" into German. His collected works in Danish, including his Erindringer or "Recollections," an autobiography, amount to 41 volumes; those in German of all kinds to 21. A critical edition of his Poetishe Skrifterw&s published by Lieben-berg in Copenhagen (32 vols., 1857-'65), and a German edition of his Lebenserinnerungen at Leipsic (4 vols., 1850-'51).