writer most famous for his lyrical poetry, which placed him in the front rank of late 19th-century Danish poets.

The son of a physician, Drachmann studied painting and also began to write. A visit to London in 1871 awakened an interest in social problems, and after his return he joined the new radical movement of which Georg Brandes was the central figure. Digte (1872), collected poems, expressed his social theories.

Drachmann established his position as the greatest poet of the Danish modern movement of his time with such collections as Dæmpede Melodier (1875; “Muted Melodies”), Sange ved Havet (“Songs by the Sea”) and Venezia (both 1877), and Ranker og Roser (1879; “Weeds and Roses”). The prose Derovre fra Grænsen (1877; “From Over the Border”) and the verse fairy tale Prinsessen og det Halve Kongerige (1878; “The Princess and Half the Kingdom”), demonstrated a patriotic and romantic trend that brought him into conflict with the Brandes group. About 1880 Drachmann adopted a conservative standpoint opposed to naturalism, but toward the end of the 1880s he returned to an individualist, antibourgeois position.

Drachmann's output was of great variety, including verse, short stories, novels, and plays, but his lyric verse is of major importance. He forsook classical prosody for a freer metre and a lively rhythm, reflecting the cadences of natural speech. Apart from his love poetry, his favourite subjects are the sea and its life. The best later collections are Gamle guder og nye (1881; “Old and New Gods”), Sangenes bog (1889; “The Book of Songs”), and Den hellige ild (1899; “The Holy Flame”). His novels are often partly autobiographical, the characters being artists or writers, as in the most important, Forskrevet, 2 vol. (1890; “Pledged”), in which his own personality is seen split into its bourgeois and bohemian components. Among his plays the fantasy Der var Engang (1885; “Once upon a Time”) was a favourite, chiefly because of Peter Lange-Müller's music.