As a talented young man, Jens Baggesen came into contact with the Danish and Holstenian nobility in Copenhagen. He adapted to the cultural and social conventions of these circles with surprising poise. In fact, one must look to Hans Christian Andersen to find a similar story of successful social climbing. Literary histories categorize Baggesen as a transitional figure whose work fluctuated between cosmopolitan Enlightenment writing and nationalistic Romanticism. The course of his life--with his countless travels, leave-takings, and new beginnings--looks just as erratic as his authorship. Baggesen's recitation piece "Da jeg var lille" (When I Was Little, 1785), which was translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as "Childhood" (1844), has long served as the quintessential example of sentimentalism and of the author himself. The first stanza, and Longfellow's translation, read:

Der var en Tid, da jeg var meget lille,
Min hele Krop var knap en Alen lang:
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