V---2nd Coral/: Gottfried Benn

[Ian Livingston]

I agree completely that poetry does not translate well. Too much is
lost. There is so much in German I wish I could read that I am certain
there is not enough time, given a normal lifespan, for me to learn the
language and read it all. Too late a start. Still, I do hope to get
some in before my rocket reaches its terminus.
Meanwhile, I'll look for the translations, as I did with Rilke,
Goethe, Nietzsche, Feuerbach, and those others.

2011/1/5 Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>:
>
> On 04.01.2011 18:17, Ian Livingston wrote:
>>
>> Although coral seems to cross
>> the line and be a little of each, as it builds its own inanimate
>> structures from its animate functions.
>
>
>
> The poet Gottfried Benn saw that too.
>
> I'll type down for you one of his most famous poems plus a strophe from an
> even more famous
> poem. You won't have any problems to find (perhaps even online)
> translations, that will give you an
> idea. But then again it's not possible to translate poems in a proper way
> ...
>
> REGRESSIV [1927]
>
> Ach, nicht in dir, nicht in Gestalten
> der Liebe, in des Kindes Blut,
> in keinem Wort, in keinem Walten
> ist etwas, wo dein Dunkel ruht.
>
> Götter und Tiere --- alles Faxen.
> Schöpfer und Schieber, ich und du ---
> Bruch, Katafalk, von Muscheln wachsen
> die Augen zu.
>
> nur manchmal dämmert's: in Gerüchen
> vom Strand, KORALLENKOLORIT [my italics],
> in Spaltungen, in Niederbrüchen
> hebst du der Nacht das schwere Lid:
>
> am Horizont die Schleierfähre,
> stygische Blüten, Schlaf und Mohn,
> die Träne wühlt sich in die Meere ---
> dir: thalassale Regression.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> BLAUE STUNDE [1950]
>
> (...)
>
> Du bist so weiß, man denkt, du wirst zerfallen
> vor lauter Schnee, vor lauter Blütenlos,
> totweiße [sic!] Rosen Glied für Glied --- KORALLEN [my italics]
> nur auf den Lippen, schwer und wundengroß.
>
> (...)
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> KFL
>
>



-- 
"liber enim librum aperit."