He was actively and practically
interested in the politics of his native land as a member of its
legislative bodies and as delegate to the national parliament at
Frankfurt in 1848. Uhland had a conservative love for the "good old
Suabian law." He felt the doubtful position of the South German states
in the struggle against Napoleon, and it was only when Wuertemberg took
its stand with the allies in the final conflict that the embarrassment
of his position was relieved, and Uhland's patriotic verse assumed its
full tone. But his poetry never became a spur to national achievement
like the verse of Arndt, that other German poet-professor. As a member
of the national parliament, Uhland was opposed to the exclusion
of Austria from the hegemony, and to the two-chamber system of
legislation. But Uhland's conservatism is unalterably honest without
any reactionary traits; he resigned his professorship rather than be
hindered in his political activities, and refused, with the peasant's
dourness, all the orders and distinctions that were offered him.
Indeed, there is something of the peasant nature in all of Uhland's
verse. Sturdy reserve characterizes it--that reserve which forbids the
peasant to show his feelings under the stress of the greatest emotion.
Uhland does not carry his feelings to market; like Schiller, he is
not a love poet. There is no display, no self-analysis, no
self-exaltation, no amalgamation of self with nature.
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