He was educated at the Friedrichswerdersches Gymnasium [de], where he learned Greek and Latin, as required in most preparatory schools.

He contributed a number of short stories (1795–98) to the series Straussfedern, published by the bookseller C. F. Nicolai and originally edited by J. K. A. Musäus.

[1] Tieck's transition to Romanticism is seen in the series of plays and stories published under the title Volksmärchen von Peter Lebrecht (3 vols., 1797), a collection containing the fairy tale Der blonde Eckbert, which blends exploration of the paranoiac mind with the realm of the supernatural, and a witty dramatic satire on Berlin literary taste, Der gestiefelte Kater.

With his school and college friend Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder (1773–1798), he planned the novel Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen (vols.

Der junge Tischlermeister (1836; but begun in 1811) is a work written under the influence of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.

[1] In later years Tieck carried on a varied literary activity as a critic (Dramaturgische Blätter, 2 vols., 1825–1826; Kritische Schriften, 2 vols., 1848).

In 1841 Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia invited Tieck to Berlin, where he received a pension for his remaining years.

[1] Tieck's importance lay in the readiness with which he adapted himself to the emerging new ideas which arose at the close of the 18th century, as well as his Romantic works, such as Der blonde Eckbert.

Minor (in Kirschner's Deutsche Nationalliteratur, 144, 2 vols., 1885); by G. Klee (with an excellent biography, 3 vols., 1892), and G. Witkowski (4 vols., 1903)[1] and Marianne Thalmann (4 vols., 1963–66).

"The Enchanted Castle", "Auburn Egbert" and "Elfin-Land" were translated in Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations (1823).

"The Fair-haired Eckbert", "The Trusty Eckart", "The Runenberg", "The Elves" and "The Goblet" were translated by Thomas Carlyle in German Romance (1827), "The Pictures" and "The Betrothal" by Bishop Thirlwall (1825).