Johannes Ewald

Danish dramatist and poet

Johannes Ewald (18 November 1743 – 17 March 1781) was a Danish national dramatist, psalm writer and poet. The lyrics of a song from one of his plays are used for one of the Danish national anthems, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast which has equal status of national anthem together with Der er et yndigt land.

Quite until the days of romanticism, Ewald was considered the unsurpassed Danish poet. Today he is probably more lauded than read; though considered classics, only few of his works have become popular.