HAMMER

hammer, friedrich julius (1810-1862), german poet, was born on the 7th of june 1810 at dresden. in 1831 he went to leipzig to study law, but devoted himself mainly to philosophy and belles lettres. returning to dresden in 1834 a small comedy, _das seltsame fruhstuck_, introduced him to the literary society of the capital, notably to ludwig tieck, and from this time he devoted himself entirely to writing. in 1837 he returned to leipzig, and, coming again to dresden, from 1851 to 1859 edited the feuilleton of _sachsische konstitutionelle zeitung_, and took the lead in the foundation in 1855 of the schiller institute in dresden. his marriage in 1851 had made him independent, and he bought a small property at pillnitz, on which, soon after his return from a residence of several years at nuremberg, he died, on the 23rd of august 1862. hammer wrote, besides several comedies, a drama _die bruder_ (1856), a number of unimportant romances, and the novel _einkehr und umkehr_ (leipzig, 1856); but his reputation rests upon his epigrammatic and didactic poems. his _schau' um dich, und schau' in dich_ (1851), which made his name, has passed through more than thirty editions. it was followed by _zu allen guten stunden_ (1854), _fester grund_ (1857), _auf stillen wegen_ (1859), and _lerne, liebe, lebe_ (1862). besides these he wrote a book of turkish songs, _unter dem halbmond_ (leipzig, 1860), and rhymed versions of the psalms (1861), and compiled the popular religious anthology _leben und heimat in gott_, of which a 14th edition was published in 1900. see c. g. e. am ende, _julius hammer_ (nuremberg, 1872).