PALUDAN-MLLER, FREDERIK

born Feb. 7, 1809, Kerteminde, on the Island of Fyn, Den. died Dec. 28, 1876, Copenhagen Danish poet who achieved early acclaim in the Danish Romantic movement for his Byronic epic Danserinden (1833; The Danseuse). The son of a bishop, he was educated at the University of Copenhagen. Later, after he was rescued from a mental and religious crisis by a happy marriage, he became a moralist and a critic of Romantic values. His Adam Homo, 3 vol. (1841, 1848), a lengthy satirical epic in three parts, is counted among the most important works of Danish literature. Its autobiographical hero, Adam Homo, is a worldly success who suffers the loss of his soul. He is saved only by the devotion of his jilted sweetheart Alma. Adam Homo is said to have been Ibsen's model for the character of Peer Gynt.