Recently the New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini put together a list of the top ten composers of all time. German composers fared well, capturing the two top spots (Bach and Beethoven). Altogether there were 3 German and 2 Austrian composers in the top ten. (The list can be viewed here).
Tommasini was triumphant with his top ten effort, but when Dean Rader of the San Francisco Chronicle attempted to duplicate the effort with the top ten poets of all time the results were less than satisfactory. Not one German poet (or German-language poet) made the cut. Nor is there one French or Russian poet on the list, while three Americans made the top ten. Most surprising was Rader's top pick: the number one greatest poet of all time is Pablo Neruda (beating out Shakespeare!). Neruda?? You must be kidding!
Dean Rader's list can be seen here.
But Rader has compelled me to create my own top ten list of German (language) poets. In compiling this list – which I don't believe is very controversial – I used Dean Rader's own method:
"I rather informally carried three interrelated criteria in my head as I built the list–how thoroughly a poet's work has permeated our culture and become part of its fabric, the degree to which a poet has influenced other poets, fiction writers, artists, screenwriters, and critics, and the ability of a poet to make: to craft out of the chaos of emotion and language, something artful."
Based on these criteria, here is my list. I hope to elaborate on some of these picks next month, as April is National Poetry Month in the US:
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Friedrich Hölderlin
- Rainer Maria Rilke
- Friedrich Schiller
- Paul Celan
- Eduard Mörike
- Georg Trakl
- Gottfried Benn
- Bertolt Brecht
- Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff
I welcome all comments and challenges to this top ten list.
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11. G.C. Lichtenberg for this very amusing new year’s speech:
Rede der Ziffer 8 am jüngsten Tage des 1798ten Jahres, im grossen Rat der Ziffern gehalten
Heine!!!
Ganz gut! I’ve translated Rilke, Celan, and Trakl, all of whom are personal favorites. I would have loved to have all on the list. Best—dean rader.
Dean – Kudos for translating Celan – something I would never dare to attempt.
Thanks also for your list – it got me thinking!
(But Wallace Stevens instead of John Keats??)
Hilde Domin is worth being mentioned,too. Has been underestimated. She’s yet to come:
April:
The world smells sweetly
of yesterday
Scents are lasting
Open the window
All springs
enter with this one…
you know winter
and pain
are not the killers…
Hi Marion,
I completely agree that she is under-appreciated. In fact, I did try to translate the poem you cite:
http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2006/04/on_translating_.html
The world smells sweetly
of yesterday.
The fragrances linger.
You open the window.
All springs
enter with this one.
Spring, which is more
than green leaves.
One kiss recovers all kisses.
Always this shimmering smooth
sky above the city
into which the streets flow.
You know that winter
and pain
are nothing that can kill you.
The air smells sweetly today
of yesterday –
which smells sweetly of today.
Else Lasker-Schüler sollte m.E. dabei sein, dafür würde ich Mörike oder Eichendorff weglassen.
Jetzt ist die Tymme für eine neue Liebe.
Poesie ist lebendig und was ist so groß
Name? Herr Michael James Morrison (2nd).
Wenn Eh-Hen. eine neue Jungfrau in Hebräisch.
Crows in der Sonne. eine neue junge. Liquidation,
-weißen Sandstrand Wye. wie der Regen. Neu?
Schienen über den Monat endete.
Stunde Cast ist schmiegen.
Thwirce Recover Leben.
nur eine Box Mumnies, grun-(s)
Giften Sie (9J) Lächeln legt alle Feind–Apast!
Wie Wer “als Englisch und Amerie.
Segel. obrigen von yonder.
und nie Brerave.
Oh, Ay, Heriorst, Comman hatte. die Mart.
(a) • Brevaldier zuletzt tapfer, fo nicht Clast cove…
zu sagen. mit mir alle Blaxe und Stweain.
übertragen jede Gruppe, Sie die Schotten verloren?
Nicht… als eine Engladier oder ah?
A. Ihre Lady Complentiernier BeQyaeare für den Song. der,
Spalte Flügel und Charme, Balsit und Regelant, Baum
IRD. singen. Gehen Sie zur Eröffnung der Gruß,
Sear (er)!!
HOAl, und Shcoal. nie für Wer»
SINGEN SIE GAROUIE NECIE.
FÜR PARL UND DISE,
KÜSS MICH MEINE BAB?
DIE FLAGGE DER-
MEINE GRÖßTE ZEIT
pobres nazis.. es Neruda el mejor poeta, nació en una tierra de poetas
The fragrance,darkness and silence in the night,will be the ingradients all together.
a perfect substitute for my love ,
The gardener will be fast asleep,
far from all these,
and city .Theuniformed man
The dark blue sky with the copper city moon in the eve,
to which the golden river flow into.
These people are like pain killers for art lovers
Thank you for including Georg Trakl in your list. He is the quintessential poet of the German language – other than Ingeborg Bachmann who you neglected (to your shame) to mention. Please pay Attention. All actions matter.
Ich gebe dir meine Poesie
Was kann ich für she tun?
nich reklame
Du bist durch alle Straßen gegangen
Du hast alle Straßen gefragt
uberall reklame
Alle Herzen sind kalt wie Blei
kann ich alle sehn
Sie sehen auch alle
aba Nur eine Person, die sagt
was kan ich fur sie tun
Dieser endet nie
Und da ist es immer
Und der Blitz hält die Liebe klar
Und macht das Leben
Und unsere Herzen werden Gold sein
M.Borghani
To echo one commenter here, I ask where’s Heine? It seems to me that through my years of reading I have often read that Heine and Rilke are commonly viewed as being at least within the top three among German poets.
In fact, the sculpted “Walk of Ideas” monument installed outdoors in 2006 in Berlin, honors the names of Germany’s 17 greatest authors, four of whom are poets, three of these likely being renowned even more for achievements in literary genres other than poetry.
The one poet alone is Heine. The other three are Goethe, Schiller and Brecht. Oddly enough, Rilke is not present among them, which truly perplexes me. But clearly evident is that Heine belongs prominently on the list of great poets here.
In response to the comment above from Dwight Ropp, I imagine the reason for Rilke’s absence from the list of Germany’s greatest authors is that he is Austrian