Austrian dramatist and poet known for his mystical dramas charged with the symbolic messages typical of German Expressionism.

The son of a judge, Wildgans became a lawyer but soon turned to writing. His childhood had been marred by his relations with his stepmother. His early poems, among which was the collection Herbstfrühling (1909; “Autumn-Spring”), sold well; they recall the themes of idealism and reality in the late romantic works of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Wildgans' plays, such as the trilogy Armut (1914; “Poverty”), Liebe (1916; “Love”), and Dies irae (1918), begin in a realistic world that becomes less and less comprehensible and more and more concerned with feeling as the play goes on, culminating in a mystical, symbolic sensing of truth. As a counterpart to this trilogy of Viennese middle-class family life, he planned another of a mythological or religious character; only the first part, Kain (1920; “Cain”), was published. Wildgans directed the celebrated Vienna Burgtheater in 1921–22 and 1930–31. He also translated Italian and French poets into German. His own collected poems were published in 1929.