Freiligrath, Ferdinand

Freiligrath, Ferdinand fĕr´dēnänt frī´lĭkhrät [key], 1810–76, German poet. In 1844 he expressed radically liberal sentiments in his collection of political verse Ein Glaubensbekenntnis [a confession of faith] (1844) and was forced to flee from Germany. He returned in 1848 but fled again after the publication of his Neuere politische und soziale Gedichte (1850). His best-known poem, O lieb', was set to music by Liszt and served as the motto of the composer's piano arrangement of the third Liebestraum.

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