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Ludwig Tieck (May 31, 1773 – April 28, 1853) was a German poet, translator, editor, novelist and critic, who was part of the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Johann Ludwig Tieck was born in Berlin, the son of a rope-maker. He was educated at the Friedrich-Werdersche Gymnasium, and at the universities of Halle, Göttingen and Erlangen. At Göttingen, he studied Shakespeare and the Elizabethan drama. In 1794 he returned to Berlin, and attempted to make a living by writing. He contributed a number of short stories (1795-1798) to the series of

Tieck's transition to Romanticism is seen in the series of plays and stories published under the title . With his school and college friend Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder (1773-1798), he planned the novel (1798), was the first expression of the romantic enthusiasm for old German art.

In 1798 Tieck married and in the following year settled in Jena, where he, the two brothers August and Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis were the leaders of the new Romantic school. His writings between 1798 and 1804 include the satirical drama, . These dramas, in which Tieck's poetic powers are to be seen at their best, are typical plays of the first Romantic school; although formless, and destitute of dramatic qualities, they show the influence of both Calderon and Shakespeare. is a poetic glorification of the middle ages.

In 1801 Tieck went to Dresden, then lived for a time near Frankfurt an der Oder, and spent many months in Italy. In 1803 he published a translation of . In 1812-1817 he collected in three volumes a number of his earlier stories and dramas, under the title .

In 1817 Tieck visited England in order to collect materials for a work on Shakespeare (unfortunately never finished) and in 1819 he settled permanently in Dresden; from 1825 on he was literary adviser to the Court Theatre, and his semi-public readings from the dramatic poets gave him a reputation which extended far beyond the Saxon capital. The new series of short stories which he began to publish in 1822 also won him a wide popularity. Notable among these are (1836; but begun in 1811Ludwig Tieck is an excellent story written under the influence of Goethe's , 2 vols., 1848); he also edited the translation of Shakespeare by August Wilhelm Schlegel, who was assisted by Tieck's daughter Dorothea (1790-1841) and by Wolf Heinrich, Graf von Baudissin (1789-1878); (2 vols., 1823-1829); the works of Heinrich von Kleist (1826) and of Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1828). In 1841 Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia invited him to Berlin where he enjoyed a pension for his remaining years. He died on the 28th of April 1853.

Tieck's importance lay in the readiness with which he adapted himself to the new ideas which arose at the close of the 18th century, rather than in any conspicuous originality. His importance in German poetry is restricted to his early period. In later years it was as the helpful friend and adviser of others, or as the well-read critic of wide sympathies, that Tieck distinguished himself.

, 144, 2 vols., 1885); by G. Klee (with an excellent biography, 3 vols., 1892), and G. Witkowski (4 vols., 1903). Marianne Thalmann (4 vols., 1963-66).