Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck

Karel Lodewijk Ledeganck (Eeklo, 9 November 1805 – Ghent, 19 March 1847) was a Flemish writer.

He started his career as a clerk, then became a judge, and school inspector before he came to teach at the university.

His initial work was strongly influenced by the English and French Romantic movement, and more specifically by Byron and Lamartine, in contrast to his later poems, which were rather pessimistic.

With his Drie zustersteden of 1843, dedicated to the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, which was called the poetic gospel of the Flemish movement, he achieved a breakthrough.

In his, now somewhat exalted or melancholic, style he proclaimed his love for the Flemish people and his belief in their future.