STURM, JULIUS (1816-1896), German poet, was born at Köstritz in the principality of Reuss on the 21st of July 1816. He studied theology at Jena from 1837 to 1841, and was appointed preceptor to the hereditary prince Henry XIV. of Reuss. In 1851 he became pastor of Göschitz near Schleiz, and in 1857 at his native village of Köstritz. In 1885 he retired with the title of Geheimkirchenrat. He died at Leipzig on the 2nd of May 1896. Sturm was a writer of lyrics and sonnets and of church poetry, breathing a spirit of deep piety and patriotism.
His religious poems were published in Fromme Lieder (pt. i., Leipzig, 1852; 12th ed., 1893; pt. ii., 1858; pt. iii., 1892), Zwei Rosen, oder das hohe Lied der Liebe (Leipzig, 1854; 2nd ed., 1892), Israelitische Lieder (3rd ed., Halle, 1881) and Palme und Krone (Leipzig, 1888). His chief lyrics were issued in Gedichte (6th ed., Leipzig, 1892), Neue Gedichte (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1880), Lieder und Bilder (2nd ed., 1892), Kampf- und Siegergedichte (Halle, 1870),
Neue Lieder (1880, 2nd ed., 1888), Neue lyrische Gedichte (Leipzig, 1894) and In Freud und Leid, letzte Lieder (1896).
See A. Hepding, Julius Sturm (Giessen, 1896); F. Hoffmann, Julius Sturm (Hamburg, 1898).