Austrians on the Eastern Front, Library of Congress |
Just months
after the war began in the early autumn of 1914, Georg Trakl, a young Austrian
poet and pharmacist, joined the Austro-Hungarian army as a medical officer and
was posted to the Austro-Hungarian province of Galacia (what is today part of
the Ukraine and Poland). Even before the war, Trakl had battled drug addiction
and suicidal tendencies. What he
witnessed on the Eastern Front in Galacia inspired some of the most haunted poetry
of the war.
Eastern Front Im Osten
The
wrath of the people is dark, Den
wilden Orgeln des Wintersturms
Like the wild
organ notes of winter storm, Gleicht
der Volkes finstrer Zorn,
The battle’s
crimson wave, a naked Die
purpurne Woge der Schlacht,
Forest of stars. Entlaubter
Sterne.
With ravaged
brows, with silver arms Mit
zerbrochnen Brauen, silbernen Armen
To dying
soldiers night comes beckoning. Winkt
sterbenden Soldaten die Nacht.
In the shade of
the autumn ash Im
Schatten der herbstlichen Esche
Ghosts of the
fallen are sighing. Seufzen
die Geister der Erschlagenen.
Thorny
wilderness girdles the town about. Dornige
Wildnis umgürtet die Stadt.
From bloody
doorsteps the moon Von
blutenden Stufen jagt der Mond
Chases terrified
women. Die
erschrockenen Frauen.
Wild wolves have
poured through the gates. Wilde
Wölfe brachen durchs Tor.
(trans. Christopher Middleton)
In his book on
Trakl’s poetry, James Wright says, “patience is the clue to the understanding
of Trakl’s poems. One does not so much read them as explore them. They are not
objects which he constructed, but quiet places at the edge of a dark forest
where one has to sit still for a long time and listen very carefully.”*
Russian hospital on the Eastern Front, Library of Congress |
Georg Trakl |
In a letter
written near the end of his short life, Trakl wrote, “It is a nameless
unhappiness when one’s world breaks in two.”†† In “Eastern Front” and other
poems, Trakl struggles to communicate the unhappiness that cannot be named, the
deep sorrows of a world torn apart by war.
*Twenty Poems of George Trakl, James
Wright and Robert Bly, p. 4.
†“Review: To the
Silenced, Selected Poems of Georg Trakl,” Stephen Watts.
††Quoted in 1910: The Emancipation of Dissonance,
Thomas Harrison, p. 45
Great blog post. Really enjoyed stumbling over this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Ed. I'll be putting up a new post once a week from now until the centenary of the Armistice, 11 November, 1918. Serendipitous stumblers always welcome!
DeleteMoving and haunting poem. Appreciated your annotations.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for reading and responding.
DeleteThanks for an excellent post on a talented voice from the Great War. Will be following your future posts with interest.
ReplyDelete