d in Gottingen,
Munich and Berlin. His career was determined by his engagement in 1841
as tutor in the family of Prince Gallitzin at Moscow, where he gained a
thorough knowledge of Russian. This led to his appointment in 1844 as
the head of a public school at Tiflis, in Transcaucasia. He took the
opportunity of his proximity to Persia to study Persian literature, and
in 1851 published a volume of original poetry in oriental guise under
the fanciful title, _Die Lieder des Mirza Schaffy_ (English trans. by E.
d'Esterre, 1880). The success of this work can only be compared with
that of Edward FitzGerald's _Omar Khayyam_, produced in somewhat similar
circumstances, but differed from it in being immediate. It has gone
through 160 editions in Germany, and has been translated into almost all
literary languages. Nor is this celebrity undeserved, for although
Bodenstedt does not attain the poetical elevation of FitzGerald, his
view of life is wider, more cheerful and more sane, while the execution
is a model of grace. On his return from the East, Bodenstedt engaged for
a while in journalism, married the daughter of a Hessian officer
(Matilde, the _Edlitam_ of his poems), and was in 1854 appointed
professor of Slavonic at Munich. The rich stores of knowledge which
Bodenstedt brought back from the East were turned to account in two
important books, _Die Volker des Kaukasus und ihre Freiheits-Kampfe
gegen die Russen_ (1848), and _Tausend und ein Tag im Orient_ (1850).
For some time Bodenstedt continued to devote himself to Slavonic
subjects, producing translations of Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgweniev, and
of the poets of the Ukraines, and writing a tragedy on the false
Demetrius, and an epic, _Ada die Lesghierin_, on a Circassian theme.
Finding, probably, this vein exhausted, he exchanged his professorship
in 1858 for one of Early English literature, and published (1858-1860) a
valuable work on the English dramatists contemporary with Shakespeare,
with copious translations. In 1862 he produced a standard translation of
Shakespeare's sonnets, and between 1866 and 1872 published a complete
version of the plays, with the help of many coadjutors. In 1867 he
undertook the direction of the court theatre at Meiningen, and was
ennobled by the duke. After 1873 he lived successively at Altona, Berlin
and Wiesbaden, where he died on the 19th of April 1892. His later works
consist of an autobiography (1888), successful translations from Hafiz
and