10.6 Close reading of a poem — the Gedichtinterpretation — Epoché
What you will be able to do Write a German poem interpretation, the Gedichtinterpretation , in the order German schools and universities expect: introduction, content, form, language, interpretation, conclusion. Name the features of a poem with the German terms: Strophe , Vers , Metrum , Kreuzreim , Enjambement , Personifikation , Metapher . Connect form and meaning: say not only what a feature is, but what it does in the poem. Follow a worked interpretation of Georg Heym's Der Gott der Stadt , which you read in 7.57 Reading . Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the German aloud; all of them come back below. German English Komisch, dass dieses Wort nicht im Wörterbuch steht. [1] It's strange that this word isn't in the dictionary. Viele dieser alten Bücher riechen nach Weihrauch. [2] A lot of these old books smell of incense. Das Geld wird wohl gleichmäßig zwischen den beiden aufgeteilt werden. [3] The money will probably be split evenly between those two. Es handelt sich gleichsam um eine Frage von Leben und Tod. [4] It is, as it were, a life and death problem. Er wird Gott anbeten. [5] He'll worship God. Das ist eine gefährliche Straße. [6] This is a dangerous road. Es ist komisch, dass das nicht funktioniert. [7] It's strange that this isn't working. Prerequisites : 10.5 — you need the metre and rhyme of 2.40 Grammar , the poems of 7.57 Reading , and the rules of quotation from 10.5 Argument . The Gedichtinterpretation is, together with the Erörterung of 10.1 Argument , the most common written task in German upper secondary school and a standard exercise in the first semesters of German studies. It is not a free essay on what a poem makes you feel. It is a structured argument: you state a working thesis about the poem's meaning, and you prove it from the text, line by line, with the technical terms. An English speaker trained in close reading will recognise the method; the differences lie in the fixed order and in the vocabulary. The plan Part What it does Typical phrases Einleitung (introduction) Author, title, year, genre and theme in one or two sentences; then a working thesis, die Deutungshypothese . Das Gedicht … von … aus dem Jahr … handelt von … Inhalt (content) A short summary, stanza by stanza, in the present tense. In der ersten Strophe wird … beschrieben. Form (form) Number of stanzas and lines, metre, rhyme scheme, line endings, and what they do. Das Gedicht besteht aus fünf Strophen zu je vier Versen. Sprache (language) Images, figures of speech, word fields, sentence structure, always with line numbers and their effect. Die Personifikation in Vers 1 zeigt, dass … Deutung (interpretation) The meaning of the whole, often with the historical context of the poem. Insgesamt lässt sich das Gedicht als … deuten. Schluss (conclusion) Confirms or corrects the working thesis; may add a personal judgement. Die Deutungshypothese hat sich bestätigt. Form and language are means, not lists. The commonest mistake is a list of features: line 3 has an enjambement, line 5 a metaphor . Every feature must be connected to the meaning: what does the enjambement do there, why that metaphor? German teachers call this the link between Form and Inhalt , and they mark down an analysis that never makes it. Integrated analysis. Advanced writers do not separate form, language and interpretation. They go through the poem stanza by stanza and treat every feature where it occurs, die verknüpfende Interpretation . Beginners usually write the parts separately, as above; both are accepted. Finding the metre. Read the line aloud slowly and mark the stressed syllables, as you learned in 2.40 Grammar . Then count the stresses, Hebungen , and look at the pattern between them: unstressed before stressed is an iamb, stressed before unstressed a trochee. German stress normally falls on the first syllable of the stem, so the natural stress of the words usually tells you the metre; if the poem forces a stress against the words, that is itself worth a sentence in your analysis. Do not spend more than a sentence or two on metre unless it does something for the meaning. Context, not biography. The interpretation may use what is known about the time of the poem: for Heym, the fast growth of Berlin after 1900 and the mood of the young expressionists. It should not explain the poem by the poet's private life unless the text itself calls for it. The claim must always come back to the words on the page. Terms German term English Example from Der Gott der Stadt die Strophe stanza five stanzas of four lines each der Vers line of verse twenty lines; German calls a line Vers , not Zeile , in analysis der Jambus , fünfhebig iamb, five-stress Auf einem Häuserblocke sitzt er breit : unstressed, stressed, five times der Kreuzreim alternating rhyme, abab breit – Stirn – Einsamkeit – verirrn die Kadenz line ending: masculine (stressed) or feminine (unstressed) mostly masculine: breit , Stirn ; feminine in stanza 4: Augenbrauen , schauen das Enjambement run-on line Ein Meer von Feuer jagt / Durch eine Straße die Personifikation personification the city as a god who sits, looks and shakes his fist der Vergleich simile, with wie wie Duft von Weihrauch die Metapher metaphor, without wie aus schwarzer Türme Meer ; Ein Meer von Feuer das Wortfeld word field, group of related words religion: Gott , Baal , knien , Kirchenglocken , Weihrauch Worked example A short interpretation of Der Gott der Stadt , written for this course, with English comments. Line numbers count the twenty lines of the poem; the quotations follow the text in 7.57 Reading , from the TextGrid Repository (textgrid:q3q2.0, CC BY 3.0 DE). Introduction with working thesis. Das Gedicht »Der Gott der Stadt« von Georg Heym erschien 1911 in dem Band »Der ewige Tag« und gehört zum frühen Expressionismus. Es beschreibt die Großstadt als einen riesigen Gott, den die Städte anbeten und der sie am Ende zerstört. Man kann das Gedicht als Warnung deuten: Die moderne