Customer Reviews

Introduction to German Poetry: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language German)

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"Introduction to German Poetry: A Dual-Language Book," edited by Gustave Mathieu and Guy Stern, is a wonderful anthology. It contains the work of thirty-four poets, mainly ranging from the 18th to 20th centuries. For the most part each poet is represented by a single short poem or excerpt, although some are represented by two or three pieces. The poems are presented in bilingual format, with the German and English versions on facing pages; this makes the book especially useful for those who are learning, or brushing up on, German. A note on the copyright page indicates that this book "is an unabridged and updated republication of the work originally published under the title _Invitation to German Poetry_" in 1959.

This is a diverse and enjoyable collection which shows how, in the hands of a skilled craftsman, the German language can be an instrument of great power and amazing beauty. The poems cover many topics and are varied in tone. Some of the poets whose work is represented include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hermann Hesse, and Bertolt Brecht. For each poet there is a picture and a short biographical note; I found this supplemental material to be very informative.

Some of my favorite pieces in this collection are as follows. Heinrich Heine's "Ich wollte, meine Lieder" ("I Wish That All My Songs"): a delightfully witty and funny variation on the love poem. Viktor von Scheffel's "Altassyrish" ("Old Assyrian"): a humorous story-poem about a drunkard in an ancient tavern; it has the delicious flavor of a drinking song. Detlev von Liliencron's "Die Musik kommt" ("The Music's Coming"): uses wonderfully rich language to evoke the sights and sounds of a military marching band. Christian Morgenstern's "Der Werwolf" ("The Werewolf"): a funny and clever satire of German grammar. Erich Kastner's "Die Entwicklung der Menschheit" ("The Development of Mankind"): a witty satire of humankind, full of funny lines and written with a remarkable, scientific-sounding vocabulary.

Also worthy of note is Franz Werfel's Whitmanesque "An den Leser" ("To the Reader"), with its sweeping embrace of humanity. But my favorite of all is Stefan George's "Du schlank und rein wie eine flamme" ("You Slim and Pure Just Like a Flame"): a passionate, exquisitely constructed, and hauntingly beautiful love poem. For the best experience of this book, I recommend reading the poems out loud, and sharing them with a friend.

Es ist nie leicht, Gedichte in eine andere Sprache zu uebersetzen, aber es ist diesem Buch ueberwiegend gelungen. Man bekommt schnell einen Einblick in die Schoenheit der deutschen Sprache!

Wenn man seine Sprachkenntnisse im Deutschen mit einem lustigen Text vertiefen moechte, ohne dass eine englische Uebersetzung dabei ist, dann empfehle ich das Buch Der, die, was? So lernt man eine Menge ueber die deutsche Sprache und hat viel Spass dabei!

This book has good German poems in it with their English translation close at hand. It is a great introduction to German poetry and poets, not to mention a great vocabulary builder. It is a helpful tool on the road to learning a new language.

This is a good book just for the nice german poems in it. It is also great for building german vocabulary

39 full text poems focusing on the Age of Goeth (1749-18320. There are pictures of the poets and they do not lose anything in the translation. You can go back and forth from left to right and see what the German is in small in small bites to start to think both languages instead of translating. Just don't go around talking like that.

Five Great German Short Stories: A Dual-Language Book

I don't know if I would call this an introduction. It's more of a introductory source anthology by which I mean a compilation of poems by major poets with very little in the way of commentary, explanation, or analysis. This book has no footnotes, a three page introduction, and- despite claims to the contrary on the back cover -no substantial critical apparatus. There is no substantial discussion of German poetic form or ways in which it differs from English poetry. Most poets get a half page biographical blurb- which I guess the editors thought was sufficient criticism -before you are thrown into their poetry. The half page blurbs aren't even dense as far as half page blurbs go: the pages are '5 x '9 with inch wide margins and the font is about 10pt font size. This review is longer than all the bios save perhaps Goethe, who gets a page and a half biography.

I'm not competent enough in German to test the "literal English translations" that oppose the German verse, but I have my doubts.

Even as a source anthology this book has faults. First and most glaringly, there are 34 poets covered in this 169 page anthology. That means, at maximum, the authors could give each poet five pages. Since each poets poems are given in both German and English that means that each poet usually gets a half page biography and one poem. Heine and Goethe get three poems a few others get two. I don't know how they expect us to understand anything about the poet based on one poem. Another problem is the failure of the authors to cite sources. I was impressed when they included a poem by Nietzsche, and I wanted to check that poem out in the context of his work, but alas Mathieu and Stern don't tell us where they pulled the work. Is it in the "Gay Science"? Maybe "Will to Power" or "Dionysius Dithyrambs"? Who knows!? The mystery is half the fun, I suppose.

Overall, this book has the feeling of an appetizer that's supposed to come before a larger and more through "introduction to German poetry": it's enough to get one interested, but you're still hungry.