Ambrosius Christoffersen Stub (May 1705–July 15, 1758) was a Danish poet. // Events Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. ... July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... 1758 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A poet is some one who writes poetry. ...

Title page of Stub's collected arias and poems, edited by T. S. Heiberg, 1771

Life

Stub was born in Gummerup on the island of Funen, but his exact birth date is unknown. He was baptized at Verninge on May 17, 1705. The son of a tailor, he was able to attend the latin school of Odense due to the generosity of noblemen who employed his father. From 1725, he studied theology at the University of Copenhagen. In Copenhagen he developed an interest in opera and music, nurtured by visits of touring opera companies from Italy and Germany. For a living, he worked as a poet and secretary for several noble families. After studying for almost 10 years, he left the university without a degree in 1734, and returned home. Funen (Danish: Fyn) is the second largest island of Denmark, it has a population of 445,000 people. ... A Lateinschule, that is latin school, was the primary or grammar school of earlier times in Germany. ... Odense Palace Odense Railroad Centre Odense is the third largest city in Denmark with 145,554 inhabitants (Odense city January 1, 2004) and the capital of the island of Funen. ... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It can also refer to the study of other religious topics. ... University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Universitet) is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Copenhagen, Denmark. ... Copenhagen ( (help· info) IPA: ) is the capital of Denmark, and the name of the municipality (Danish, kommune) in which it resides. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognizable opera houses and landmarks Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the...

There he met Mette Cathrine Schousboe, a minister's daughter, who he married in 1735. The couple lived at Mette's inherited farm which they were not able to manage well enough. Hence, its value soon declined, and the Stubs' living conditions got worse and worse. Of the couple's four children only two survived childhood. In 1747, Stub's wife died aged 31.

Five years later, Ambrosius Stub moved to Ribe, where he kept close company to Bishop Hans Adolph Brorson. Suffering from gout and an alcohol problem, he spent his last years there working as a teacher. He died in Ribe. Ribe Cathedral in Ribe, Denmark. ... Hans Adolph Brorson (June 20, 1694, Randerup — June 3, 1764, Ribe) was a Danish Pietist clergyman and hymn writer. ...

Work

Stub wrote his first poems as a 23-year old student, but during his lifetime, only six of his works were published (in 1752). A first edition of his collected works was published posthumously in 1771. Later collections were assembled from songbooks, but the attribution of some anonymous poems and arias remains disputed.

Stub's literary show a wide variety of topics, comprising philosophical and religious poetry as well as drinking songs, love poems and occasional poems.

His Du deylig Rosen-Knop (Thou beautiful rosebud) can be read as a commitment to virtuousness: the withering rose is a symbol for perishable beauty, and only virtue persists. Virtue (Greek αρετη; Latin virtus) is moral excellence of a man or a woman. ...

In Den kiedsom Winter gik sin Gang (The bleak winter went his way), he describes the beginning of spring from the point of view of a sinister poet. Providence, however, holds more cheerful days for him to come, if he only keeps up his patience and fortitude. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Patience Patience is the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint. ... Fortitude, or Strength, sometimes also called Courage, is one of the Four Cardinal Virtues of the Catholic Church. ...

Stub's late work, written in Ribe, is influenced by pietism. Fear of death, Hell and the moral decline of the world become his primary topics of interest. Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late-17th century to the mid-18th century. ...

He was also influenced by the German writer and musician, Johann Sigismund Sperontes.

Works

• Ambrosius Stub: Arier og andre poetiske Stykker. Udg. af T.S. Heiberg, København 1771 [2nd ed. 1780]
• Ambrosius Stub: Digte. Udg. med indledning og noter af Erik Kroman [2 vols.], København 1972

References

• Hans Brix: Ambrosius Stub, København 1960
• Helge Stenkilde: Ambrosius Stub. Danmarks første store lyriker. 1705-1758. Herning 2005
• Hanne Marie Svendsen, Werner Svendsen: Geschichte der dänischen Literatur, translated to German by George Goetz, Neumünster 1964, pp. 134-137
• Virpi Zuck (ed.): Dictionary of Scandinavian Literature, Chicago [a.o.] 1990, pp. 588-589

External links

• Ambrosius Stub in the Arkiv for Dansk Litteratur (in Danish)
• Ambrosius Stub at kalliope.org (in Danish)