- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (28 April 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 014058546X
- ISBN-13: 978-0140585469
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 543,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This collection moves from medieval lyrics and ballads to the Protestant hymns of the 16th century, to the great explosion of German literature with Goethe and Schiller, taking in the isolated genius of Hoelderin, and then on to late 19th-century naturalism, the post-World War I expressionists, and several notable poets in this century, including Loerke and Bertolt Brecht. Demonstrating the unusual and exciting way German poetry has evolved, this volume of poems illustrates how, at times, traditions seem to have been lost and then re-created, while many of the poets included here - Weckherlin, Opitz, Klopstock, Goethe, Hoelderin, Rilke, Trakl - seem to start afresh in a way no English poet has done since Chaucer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
You don't tend to think of the Germans as very poetic. Good at building roads and cars and running things in an orderly fashion, good at shouting a lot and starting World Wars, but surely poetry is a more girly French sort of thing. Not so; in fact they went in for 18th Century Romanticism in a big way, with poets like Schiller and Holderlin, and their star poet Goethe is almost as famous as our Shakespeare. This collection takes the reader all the way from the 9th Century 'Hildebrandslied' to Bertolt Brecht in the 20th Century. There are early anonymous rhymes in mysterious old German and Martin Luther's hymn 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott' (A Safe Stronghold our God is still).
Best of all, for the hesitant language student there is an English prose version of each poem included at the bottom of the page. This means you don't have to battle too hard trying to translate - you can get the gist from the English and then enjoy the rhythm and elegance of the poetry. German is not a beautiful language, but it does tend to rhyme rather well, and it suits the poems about wild nature or epic, dark and mythical subjects. Think Wagner and the Black Forest.
Here is a tiny sample from Goethe's 'Mailied' with the translation as given:
Wie herrlich leuchtet
Mir die Natur!
Wie glanzt die Sonne!
Wie lacht die Flur!
May Song - How splendidly nature glows for me! How the sun shines, how the fields laugh!
Best of all, for the hesitant language student there is an English prose version of each poem included at the bottom of the page. This means you don't have to battle too hard trying to translate - you can get the gist from the English and then enjoy the rhythm and elegance of the poetry. German is not a beautiful language, but it does tend to rhyme rather well, and it suits the poems about wild nature or epic, dark and mythical subjects. Think Wagner and the Black Forest.
Here is a tiny sample from Goethe's 'Mailied' with the translation as given:
Wie herrlich leuchtet
Mir die Natur!
Wie glanzt die Sonne!
Wie lacht die Flur!
May Song - How splendidly nature glows for me! How the sun shines, how the fields laugh!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
richness
26 May 1999
The Penguin Book of German Verse is a rich collection of poetry spanning over 1,000 years, with poems as early as A.D.800 in the original language. The translation provided is good although sometimes faulty, and Schiller is somewhat inadequately represented. All things considered, it's an excellent book, either for pleasure or study.
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