¹ “Enumerative Style and its Significance in Whitman, Rilke, Werfel,” Modern Language Quarterly, iii (1942). Symbol henceforth: WRW.

² Nothing suggests Whitman's influence. Hart's diction bears no similarity to the latter's, as our quotations will show. Moreover, we find enumerative style already present in some of his contributions to Moderne Dichtercharaktere, the naturalistic anthology of 1884/5, while Whitman began to become more generally known in Germany only from 1889 on, through Knortz' and Rolleston's translation. Cf. Harry Law-Robertson, Walt Whitman in Deutschland (1935) = Gieβener Beiträge zur deutschen Philologie, xlii (ch. i).

³ In vol. iii of the Gesammelte Werke (1907); all quotations will follow this edition.

⁴ Very similar ideas are expressed by Heinrich Hart's younger brother Julius (1859–1930) in the section “Welt-Ich” of his book Der neue Gott (1899).

⁵ A hint at the possibility of individual immortality (iii, 198) is very much the exception.

⁶ Dots within brackets indicate omissions; without brackets they belong to the original text.—Despite passages such as this Hart frequently very definitely avows personal existence. The entire essay “Ecce homo” (iii, 142 ff.) stresses the value of personality. He accuses Christianity of other-worldliness, of denying life, the meaning of which is: to live (iii, 135/6); indeed, every life is worth living (iii, 138). In at least one instance the two poles of his philosophy, a mystical emphasis on Entwerdung and a positivistic vitalism that affirms life in time and space as sufficient unto itself, appear in striking juxtaposition. We read (iii, 101): “Ja, das Leben ist auf uns gelegt wie eine Last, und unser Wachsen und Reifen bedeutet nichts, als langsames Abwerfen Stück für Stück von der mit uns geborenen Unruhe. Wer dieses Rätsel erfaβt, versteht, warum beide, Gotama der Buddha und Jesus der Heiland, mit immer neuen Worten es predigen: das Leben ist nicht um des Lebens, sondern um des Todes willen da.” Whereupon, a few lines later, he postulates “volle und ungehemmte Auslebung des Ichs.” These adjectives, to be sure, he forthwith qualifies; rejecting Nietzsche's absolute individualism, he assigns to reason the task of restraining and guiding our natural instincts, of furthering the social impulses which mediate between collective and individual demands (iii, 103 f.). Thus we may become “through service masters, through self-surrender free,” may feel our own existence expanded rather than repressed by that of others. And with naive nineteenth-century optimism Hart foresees the day when harmony between the individual and society will be attained, when men will act morally without the compulsion of laws (iii, 105). Also the poems show the same syncretism of unreconciled elements; “Fluch diesem Leibe” and “Gespräch mit dem Tode” represent antisensualistic spiritualism, while “Das Reich der Schönheit” ecstatically affirms life in time and space. Cf. finally also the diametrically opposed heroes Vinzenz (the ascetic) and Richard (the vitalist) in the two stories combined under the title “Kinder des Lichts” (Werke, ii).

⁷ In “Von Haβ und Liebe hab' ich mich befreit,” to be sure, ultimate harmony lies, with a Buddhistic note, beyond both emotions; but this is the exception.

⁸ “Was da ist, es ist in dir” (“Verklärung”).

⁹ Cf. also “Gieb dich hin, mein Mädchen,” where the woman is—enumeratively—exhorted to absorb into herself not only the lover, but all that is. A striking parallel to these poems is afforded by Goethe's “In tausend Formen magst du dich verstecken” (Westöstlicher Divan).

¹⁰ Despite occasional lapses into a complacent jargon of emancipation from other-worldly bondage, as, e.g., when he praises Eugen Dühring, “der uns von den Göttern jeglicher Gestalt befreit hat” (iii, 133).

¹¹ Schlaf, “Mein Verhältnis zu Walt Whitman,” Die Lese, iii (1912), 436 f. Cf. Law-Robertson, op. cit., pp. 60 f., where the more important passages from this short essay are reprinted.

¹² Page references follow the first edition (1892).

¹³ Quoted from Schlaf's essay on Walt Whitman of 1904 ( = Die Dichtung, vol. xviii), p. 53. Cf. also ibid., pp. 39 f. and 52.

¹⁴ Quotations are from the first book edition (1896).

¹⁵ In the Whitman essay of 1904 Schlaf applies very similar phraseology to the American poet himself (pp. 69/70). In other places (pp. 29, 59 and especially 61/2) he sees in him something of a modern reincarnation of Christ!

¹⁶ This “ich” is, of course, in the light of the above passage rather an “Ich.”

¹⁷ Cf. Whitman, “Song of Myself,” 16:

From Frühling cf. also pp. 63–65, passim.

¹⁸ A further “du” enumeration is found on pp. 46/7. Cf. also p. 34, where the reference is to a “wir”: “Hier sind wir Blume und Baum und Gras, heller Himmel und goldiges Kornwogen, Farben und Vogellied, hier blühst und singst und leuchtest du in mir und ich in dir.”

¹⁹ “Mein Verhältnis zu Walt Whitman,” loc. cit. (cf. note 11 above).

²⁰ Neue Folge, 1931. The original edition of 1927 was not available to me.

²¹ I.e., God (cf. p. 100).

²² Sic! The passage is syntactically very confused.

²³ For further enumerative passages in Das Spiel der hohen Linien cf. pp. 7, 42, 46, 51, 55, 57, 74/5, 104, 107, 139/40, 158. On pp. 55, 75, 104, 107 the connection with the idea of oneness is particularly apparent.

²⁴ The latter part of the introductory Phantasus poem (in the final edition of 1925) is a good, though by no means extreme example. Cf. also (ibid., vol. i) pp. 12 (trees), 13 (animals), 15 (objects borne by carriers), etc. ad inf.

²⁵ First edition, 1904; second (enlarged) edition, 1908. Our quotations will follow the latter.

²⁶ Cf. Paquet's letter to Law-Robertson, op. cit., p. 66. Here he freely admits the stylistic influence of the Leaves, but at the same time claims that problems of “prose verse” had occupied him before he ever knew the latter.—The poems dealing with America were republished in 1925 under the title Amerika—Hymnen, Gedichte.

²⁷ Cf. also especially “In einem Dom” and “Der Radfahrer.”

²⁸ Cf. especially “Der Radfahrer,” “Auf der Straβe,” “Die Stadt im Regen,” “Die Stadt, genannt Die Ferne” ( = Dairen) and the poems dealing with America in the third part of the volume.

²⁹ Similar enumerations of human activities occur in many of the poems mentioned in the previous note. Pictorial unity is least observed in “Zu gleicher Stunde,” but it is significant that even here the vicinity of locale is retained (“Zu gleicher Stunde, in Nachbarschaft, ereignen sich diese Dinge: […]”) and that to the items of which the chain consists there are allotted as much as three to eleven lines each.

³⁰ Second edition (1932), pp. 219 ff.

³¹ Cf. especially “Der Stern” (with a strong note of ethical transcendentalism), furthermore “Die Träume,” “Der Einzelne.”

³² The following collections will be taken into consideration: Der Acker (1907), Der Strom (1912), Die ewigen Pfingsten (1919; symbol: EP), Der inwendige Weg (1920; symbol: IW), Flammen und Winde (1923), Zeilen-Wende (1936). The first three will be quoted according to the second editions (1910, 1921, 1927 resp.).

³³ Cf., e.g., “Der Psalm von der Fülle” (EP).

³⁴ In contrast to this, the poem “Im Augenblick, wo einst mein Fleisch zerfällt” (ibid.) assumes an impersonal immortality, a resorption into the “ewige Fülle.”

³⁵ “Lebe in Rausch!” (IW).

³⁶ “Raumhymnen” (ibid.).

³⁷ Quoted from a brief autobiographical statement in Sergei's anthology Saat und Ernte (1924). Cf. also Soergel, Dichtung und Dichter der Zeit, N. F. (1926), p. 405.

³⁸ Cf. the titles Der Acker, Der Strom and also the poem “Leidenschaft” (IW).

³⁹ Identically in “Bekenntnis” and “Erweckung” (Sergel, Saat und Ernte).

⁴⁰ Cf. also “Der heitere Psalm” (EP):

⁴¹ Cf. “Der Psalm von den Bekennern” (EP), where the poet identifies himself with all who profess “den ungelassenen, den heftigen, den Gott voll Rausch und Brand,” and continues: “Ich bete zu Gott, der nicht gerecht ist nach Menschengerechtigkeit.”

⁴² Cf. also “Die Ausgieβungen” (EP).

⁴³ Cf. WRW, pp. 194 ff.

⁴⁴ There is a certain likeness between this poem and Werfel's “Die Instanz” (Der Weltfreund).

⁴⁵ According to Soergel (op. cit., p. 409) Lissauer later regretted having written the “Haβgesang gegen England” instead of a “Liebesgesang an Deutschland.” Cf. also the poet's letter to Reinhard Weer (Dec. 8, 1919), quoted by G. K. Brand in his monograph Ernst Lissauer (1923), pp. 67 ff.

⁴⁶ A contributing factor to this heavy mood was perhaps the long and grave illness of a beloved person, frequently alluded to in the poems.

⁴⁷ This otherwise rare word is rather frequent in Werfel's vocabulary.

⁴⁸ End of the poem “Apokalypse von heut.” This is also the title of an entire section.

⁴⁹ This poem seems to date back to 1921/5, but is included only in this late collection.

⁵⁰ Cf. also “Gott schaut kein Einzelnes an”: “Gott ist so streng, / Ich Mensch muβ mich der Kreatur erbarmen.”

⁵¹ Cf. the poem “Und immer wieder ist Jüngstes Gericht.”

⁵² Notice the remnants of an immanent conception.

⁵³ In 1928 Wegner professes that since his sixteenth year he has been a violent atheist (“Fünf Finger über dir,” Die Tat, xx, 176).

⁵⁴ Written 1909–13, published 1917; symbol henceforth: AdS.

⁵⁵ From “Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps,” 2, in Federn's very faulty translation. The first line actually reads: “Now we advance our latent and ampler hunger to fill.”

⁵⁶ Composed largely between 1910 and 1920, published in 1924; symbol henceforth: SmdtZ.

⁵⁷ “Zu den erdgefalteten Bergen schreit ich hinan,” ii, in SmdtZ.

⁵⁸ Cf. especially “In das Land Tibesti will ich fahren!” (SmdtZ).

⁵⁹ “Zu den erdgefalteten Bergen schreit ich hinan,” viii (SmdtZ). Cf. also “Die Odyssee der Seele” (ibid.), where he thus addresses this Super-Ego:

⁶⁰ “Die Insel der friedsamen Hütten,” i (SmdtZ). Cf. again Whitman: “I am of old and young” (“Song of Myself,” 16).

⁶¹ These are the most frequent themes of enumerative passages. Cf., besides the examples mentioned in our discussion, “Abend” and “Der segelnde Tod” in AdS, “Grab der Gliedmaβen” and “Die Insel der friedsamen Hütten,” vii, in SmdtZ.

⁶² Cf. “Häuser” in AdS: “Ich schmecke fremden Schmerz wie Milch und Wein.”

⁶³ Cf. “Funkspruch in die Welt” (SmdtZ), which in a typically expressionistic manner begins:

⁶⁴ The group to which this poem belongs is introduced by a motto from Baudelaire.

⁶⁵ Significant are also the countless anatomical metaphors, frequently with an erotic flavor. Wegner speaks of the naked body and the womb of the fields, the flesh of the meadows, the loins of the mountains, the breasts of the sand and of the island, the blue breasts of the world and the thousand-breasted sea, the udders of light; the earth has, inter alia, a belly, udders, and a womb; the wind has limbs, a mouth, breasts and at night cohabitates with the desert (SmdtZ, passim). In “Der Riese Landschaft” (ibid.) nature is enumeratively described in similar terms.

⁶⁶ This line illustrates our remark above (p. 1135) regarding the occasional resemblance between Wegner and Trakl.

⁶⁷ It has not always been sufficiently recognized how many “impressionistic” traits survived under new stylistic trappings in the expressionistic period. Wegner is only an exceptionally clear case.

⁶⁸ The volume Das brennende Volk—Kriegsgabe der Werkleute auf Baus Nyland (1916), which, together with contributions by Jakob Kneip and Wilhelm Vershofen, contains Winckler's “Die mythische Zeit,” I have not been able to locate in this country.

⁶⁹ E.g., “Die Apokalypse von Lyck” (Mitten im Wellkrieg). For the concept of “pathetic enumeration” cf. WRW, p. 172.

⁷⁰ E.g., “Banditen” (Ozean), with an enumerative description of London.

⁷¹ For the poet's shifting attitude towards modern civilization cf. my article “Motifs of Cultural Eschatology in German Poetry from Naturalism to Expressionism,” PMLA, lix (1944).

⁷² Cf. also the somewhat abstruse poem no. 43.

⁷³ Cf. WRW, pp. 199 f.

⁷⁴ In no. 39 he accuses himself (likewise with enumeration) of the same inertia of heart. Basically he never takes an attitude of ethical nihilism. The very essence of the book is the discrepancy between the moral postulate and (both human and transcendental) reality.

⁷⁵ Cf. the article cited in note 71 above.

⁷⁶ The poems of the former, according to the author's statement (p. 98 of the edition of 1925), largely date back to 1913/14; the latter represents a revision of the Eiserne Sonette of 1914.

⁷⁷ Unless there is a statement to the contrary, references in the following discussion will be to this volume, which contains the bulk of Engelke's lyrics.

⁷⁸ Cf. also Vermächtnis, pp. 293, 368, 378, 385.

⁷⁹ Jean Boyer (Gerrit Engelke, poète ouvrier, 1938) over-simplifies the problem when he says (p. 149): “Le procédé de l'énumération ou de la juxtaposition des images à l'infini a certainement été emprunté par Engelke à Whitman.” Strangely enough, this is all the author has to say about enumeration in an otherwise very detailed stylistic analysis.

⁸⁰ Cf. the poem “Gott braust,” with the refrain “Gottesrhythmus;” also “Weltgeist” and “Der ewige Herzklang.” All three are enumerative.

⁸¹ There is, to be sure, also a theistic side to Engelke's religion. In a letter to his fiancee (Vermächtnis, p. 346) he discloses that he prays regularly and continues: “Sieh: alle Groβen, die groβen Pantheisten, die kosmisch Gläubigen haben […] in ihren kindlichen Augenblicken immer eines persönlichen Gott-Vaters bedurft. So auch ich.”

⁸² That the sun thus travels in a west-easterly direction never seems to occur to the poet !

⁸³ “To a Historian.”

⁸⁴ “By Blue Ontario's Shore,” 15.

⁸⁵ Cf. Whitman, “I Sing the Body Electric.”

⁸⁶ Cf. “Neuer Stolz des Weltmenschen” (“Alles, Alles weitet, breitet sich / Stürmend, türmend rund um Mich, / Mich Alles-Mitte !”) and “Tagtaumel” (with an alternate version under the title “Welttrunkenheit” in Vermächtnis), both with extensive enumeration.

⁸⁷ But cf. note 81 above.

⁸⁸ Cf. WRW, p. 176.

⁸⁹ A “neue Zeit” of “Herzbereitschaft” is envisaged in the poem “Mensch zu Mensch,” which would also appear to belong to the war period: “Menschen! Alle ihr aus einem Grunde, / Alle, Alle aus dem Ewig-Erde-Schoβ, / Reiβt euch fort aus Geldkampf, Krieg, der Steinstadt-Runde: / Werdet wieder kindergroβ!” As the war progresses, Engelke's faith in the world that is declines, his “neuer Stolz des Weltmenschen” gives way to antiurban, antimechanistic sentiments. Cf. my article mentioned in note 71 above.

⁹⁰ Cf. “Song of Myself,” 33, 37.

⁹¹ “To Think of Time,” 6. Cf. WRW, pp. 181 ff.

⁹² At the same time the extensive catalogues of nationalities and localities are more Whitmanesque in character than Engelke's enumerations generally.

⁹³ “All mein Beten ging zur Erde. / Gib, Gott, daβ sie heilig werde.” (“Der Beter,” 4, ibid.)

⁹⁴ Cf. “Der Krieg und die Sinne,” ibid.

⁹⁵ “Alles ist eins!” (“Urlaub,” 4).

⁹⁶ Published in 1925, reprinted in Das dichterische Werk (1937), whose text our quotations follow. The form is an elastic “Streckvers” which occasionally passes over into rhythmic prose.

⁹⁷ Cf. my article mentioned in note 71.

⁹⁸ For enumerations of animals cf. also pp. 80, 117, 181, 186, 187.

⁹⁹ This passage particularly would seem to indicate that Law-Robertson (op. cit., p. 84) underrates Whitman's formal influence on Lersch, even though he can quote the latter as saying that his rhythm is derived immediately from the hydraulic hammers etc., rather than from the American poet—a statement which is only partly correct. Strongly reminiscent of the Leaves is, in the above lines, the enumeration of callings, moreover in the form of a direct address; cf. “Passage to India,” parts 2 and S: “You captains, voyagers, explorers […,] / You engineers, you architects, machinists”—“O voyagers, O scientists and inventors.” Also the explicit coordination of each occupational category with its respective locale is Whitmanesque (cf., e.g., “Song of Myself,” 15).

¹⁰⁰ In the context of this passage it is not clear—probably intentionally so—whether the “Mutter Unser” is nature-earth or the proletariat. The latter is for Lersch under the social aspect that darkly procreative, eternally sustaining force that the former is in the cosmos. Motherly, incidentally, is for him also the anvil (p. 201); and Asia, the womb of nations, is the great mother of all mothers (p. 182). This tendency towards the cult of a parturient Magna Mater, towards a universal matriarchate, is further brought out by the frequent phallic symbolism (plough, ship, tree, hammer—pp. 192 ff.), for which cf. Pongs, Das Bild in der Dichtung, i (1927), pp. 270 ff., and Friedrich Falk, Die religiöse Symbolik der deutschen Arbeiterdichtung der Gegenwart (1930), pp. 80 ff.—On the other hand there enters into the idea of “Mutter Unser” also a spiritual element of love, redemption, peace; this would seem to derive from Lersch's deep attachment to his mother (cf., e.g., p. 161), in contrast to which the relationship to his father is problematical. Cf. also the sketch “Bildnis der Mutter” in his book Im Pulsschlag der Maschinen (1935).

¹⁰¹ Cf. especially p. 169: “Steige hinab auf diese Erde, höher denn alle Himmel.” Law-Robertson (op. cit., p. 84) and Minna Loeb in her thesis on Die Ideengehalte der Arbeiterdichtung (Gieβen, 1932; p. 30) both underrate these traits. More discriminating is Falk (op. cit., pp. 42 ff., especially p. 60).

¹⁰² Published in 1934, reprinted in Das dichterische Werk.

¹⁰³ In the same year 1934 Lersch wrote to Law-Robertson (op. cit., p. 84 f.): “Merkwürdig, wenn man bei Whitman das Wort Demokratie durch Nation ersetzt (eigentlich unmöglich), so glaubt man, einen zum völkischen Bewuβtsein erwachten Mann zu hören.”

¹⁰⁴ It is peculiar that Pongs (Das Bild in der Dichtung, i, 124), speaking of Whitman's enumerative style, misses its metaphysical implications altogether; furthermore, that he seems unaware of the frequency of the phenomenon in German literature.