Born on 29 November 1825 in Hyllested, a town near Grenaa, Pauline was a daughter of Peter Worm and Louise Theodora Petrine Worm, and she was homeschooled by her father. After working as a home tutor in the town of Præstø from 1847 to 1850, she ran a small school in Randers and then a similar school in Aarhus, but both were unsuccessful. Beginning in 1865, she had a long career as a teacher in Randers, but she also did other things. Her first public appearance was on 28 January 1848, reading aloud a beautiful poem called Fædrelandet (“The Fatherland”) dedicated to the new king, Frederik VII. In 1851 she wrote Fire Breve om Clara Raphael (“Four Letters About Clara Raphael”) and a large novel, De fornuftige (“The Sensible Ones”), which made a strong case for women’s right to think and act independently, contrary to the petty “practical considerations” of their families and relatives. She was an early adherent of equality for the women and fought for it until the end. Her 1865 appearance was the first public lecture held by a Danish woman, and she later published several smaller works in addition to numerous articles and poems in newspapers and magazines as a warm advocate of her native language and her country and its defence. Her Vaar og Høst (“Spring and Autumn”) poetry collection was published in 1864. She died on 13 December 1883. (No children.)
