What he "cleansed" out of his poetry was the dregs of the entire Romantic-symbolic epoch and its "aesthetic self-sufficiency".
— Hambger
A poem should not be "interesting" but "just".
— Archibald McLeish
Brecht argues that there is a general tendency to overestimate "pure, lyrical products." He, on the other hand, was a "communicator of unfortunate news."
Brecht wrote almost everything in his life, as well as in almost all poetic forms. He wrote Shakespearean poems, he wrote sonnets and ballads and hymns, he wrote long narrative and philosophical poems, he wrote children's and alphabet poems, marches, graffiti poems, love poems and hymns in various variations, and he also wrote a large number of unflected lyrics with irregular rhymes that belonged to his personal characteristics.
To Future Generations: Selected Poems of Brecht
Today, I would like to join you in reading To Future Generations: Selected Poems of Brecht. The poem is divided into seven parts. I excerpted two poems from each section, which I consider to be representative of this period. But in fact, it's really hard to pick 14 out of 226 poems. If you read this sharing article and like Brecht's poetry friends, of course, you can read this whole book of poems.
Early and early urban poems (42 in total)
Reading Brecht's poems, you don't get that smooth and pleasant feeling. On the contrary, you may feel disharmonious, unromantic, unmerciful. This is true even in his early poems. But this does not in any way obscure the brilliance and power of his early poetry.
City poems (23 in total)
If appropriate, Brecht would have done it in the same poem, from highest to lowest. For in his view, real life is exactly like this: the coherence of all kinds of gaps, the possibility of contradictions coexisting.
Times of Crisis (15 songs in total)
Brecht worked to create a whole new kind of political poetry: "Genuinely, not merely rhetorically, involved in the interaction between life and language." ”
"An overnight bed," the handwritten text in this picture was left by the previous reader. Roughly meaning: "Absolute genius, master of rhythmic processing." First and foremost out of humanitarian compassion, of course. This lovely reader also marked other poems, paying homage to them in a different way than I did.
Welfer's assessment of Brecht:
Without claiming intellectual superiority, the poet, under the authority of his experience and his knowledge, served as a friend, a collaborator, and all the good-intentioned counselors and guides.
"Do not listen to any advice from those who have failed so utterly, but decide for yourself what is good for you..." (The dying poet to the young). The man had lived long enough and was clear enough to dare to speak out about his concern for others.
Early exile (37 songs in total)
Arthur Welley said: "Classical Chinese poetry is characterized by reasoning and straightforward reflection, rather than philosophical ingenuity and conjecture. "Brecht favored classical Chinese poetry, especially Bai Juyi's works that reflected the people's lack of life and the shortcomings of acupuncture." For readers, this sentence means a kind of concern for the times, a concern for the real society, and a responsibility and mission for transforming society and promoting social progress. In this regard, the Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi coincided with the Modern German poet Brecht.
"Visiting the exiled poets", Brecht portrayed the social situation of the time with the help of the great poets of Ovie, Bai Juyi, Du Fu, Wei Yong, Dante, Voltaire, Shakespeare, Euripides and many other great poets.
Excerpt from the Nine Books of the Yuan Dynasty "The family is poor and the old are many, and twenty-seven parties are endowed from the countryside." After that, although he specialized in scientific examinations, he did not abolish poetry. And when he was awarded the school secretary, he had already earned 300 or 400 songs. Or show friends such as foot generation, see all called work, in fact, do not peek into the author's domain ear. Since the ascension of the dynasty, the teeth have grown older and the number of things read more and more. Every time you talk to people, ask more about current affairs; every time you read history, ask more reason. The articles are written for the times, and the songs and poems are written for the things. When the emperor first ascended the throne, there were righteous people in the Zaifu, who repeatedly lowered the seal book and visited people for acute illness. On this day, the servant was promoted to Hanlin, as a counselor, and asked for advice paper every month. Between the beginnings, there are those who can relieve people's illness and make up for the time gap, and those who are difficult to point out, and who want to sing a little bit on the top. The upper is guangchen listening, the deputy is worried and diligent; the second is rewarded with gratitude, and the second is rewarded with words and responsibilities; and the next is to restore my life's aspirations. Shame has been born before it is done, and slander has become a result without hearing it! ”
The Darkest Years (30 songs in total)
Brecht,between poetry and reality, between writing and politics, devoted himself to a reconciliation, and lyricism was completely lost behind the purpose of poetry, a modern poem he called "rhymeless lyric poetry" and regarded as a great innovation in the german poetic language.
What kind of reality is that? World War I, the German Revolution, hyperinflation, the Great Depression, Hitler; World War II, East Germany, and so on. Living in such a reality, through the dramatic gaps of real life in the twentieth century, Brecht sought to gain what he considered to be lost: the beautiful and contradictory unity of poetic language.
American Period (37 songs in total)
The traditional view of poetry holds that poetry is something that is far away from or higher than the general human problem, rather than an organic part of the human problem. Brecht was largely able to remain objective, removing the attention paid to the mysteries of poetry, allowing him to resist the most tedious effects of dogma. Perhaps this sobriety was the most useful legacy he left to his postwar successors.
Later poems (42 in total)
Michael Hambger argues that "Brecht's later poetry is more enduring and exemplary than his earlier poetry, despite its brilliance and power." ”
When I read the entire anthology of poems, I generally felt that Brecht's later poetry was more concise, and the ideas were expressed in a few sentences; the early poems were often longer.
Most notably, his early poems showed a stronger momentum and were read with a turbulent momentum; but later poems were more peaceful and wise, as if understated, as if blurted out, and read with warmth, or enlightenment, or a peaceful firmness.
After reading the gorgeous poems, romantic lyrics, and empty words and sentences, and then reading the poems of the great poets, I finally had an epiphany: some poems cannot be called poetry in the true sense, but only brush a thin layer of "sugar frosting" for the text; and some poems are not only poetry, but also nutrition, knowledge, and thought.
Let's end with this passage:
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
German playwright, theater theorist, poet and director
Representative works: "Three Cent Opera", "Biography of Galileo", "Bold Mother and Her Children", "Good People of Sichuan", "Caucasian Gray Appendix" and so on
Representative works "Svendborg Poetry Copy"; poetry collection "Family Prayer Book"; group poem "Buko Lamentations"