He was originally intended for his father's profession and studied at Bonn and Berlin, but his real interests lay not in theology but in classical and romance philology.

[1] In 1851, Geibel was invited to Munich by Maximilian II of Bavaria as an honorary professor at the university, and he relinquished his Prussian stipend.

While in Munich he was at the center of the literary circle called Die Krokodile (Crocodile Society), which was concerned with traditional forms.

[citation needed] A volume of Neue Gedichte, published at Munich in 1857, and principally consisting of poems on classical subjects, denoted a further considerable advance in his objectivity.

His strength lay not, however, in his political songs but in his purely lyric poetry, such as the fine cycle Ada and his popular love-songs.