DAUMER, GEORG FRIEDRICH. – Philosopher and poet, born on 5 March 1800 in Nuremberg, died in Würzburg on 14 December 1875.
In Nuremberg, as a student, he came under the influence of his teachers Hegel and Schelling. He then continued his studies in Leipzig, where he abandoned theology for philosophy. Returning to Nuremberg, he taught there at the college from 1822 and at the gymnasium from 1827. Because of illness and disagreements with the rector, he withdrew in 1830 to devote himself exclusively to poetry and study, especially of philosophy and the history of religions. After attempting to reconcile pantheism with theism (Andeutung eines Systemes spekulativer Philosophie, Nuremberg 1831), he sought to devise a new religion of the future (Züge einer neuen Philosophie der Religion und Religionsgeschichte, 1835; Die Religion des neuen Weltalters, 3 vols., Hamburg 1850). In 1858 he converted to Catholicism, which he had previously opposed.
D. left many works, both religious-philosophical and poetic in character. Among the former, special mention should be made of: Philosophie, Religion und Altertum (2 vols., Nuremberg 1833); Die Geheimnisse des christlichen Altertums (1846 [placed on the Index by decree of 5 March 1857]), adapted into French by Hermann Ewerbeck under the title: Qu'est-ce que la Bible d'après la nouvelle philosophie allemande? (Paris 1850 [placed on the Index by decree of 2 December 1857]). After his conversion he published, among other works: Meine Konversion (Mainz 1859); Die dreifache Krone Roms (Münster 1859); Das Wunder (ibid. 1874); Der Zukunftsidealismus der Vorwelt (ibid. 1874). Among his poetic works, the following stand out: Die Glorie der hl. Jungfrau Maria (1841), which had a widely circulated second edition under the title Marianische Legenden und Gedichte nach alten latein., italien., span., französ. u. deutschen Darstellungen u. Original-Poesien (Münster 1859); Blumen und Früchte aus dem Garten christl. Weltanschauung und Lebensentwicklung (Mainz 1863). His finest lyric poetry is found in Frauenbilder und Huldigungen (3 vols., Leipzig 1853 and 1858), from which Brahms selected several poems as texts for his musical compositions.