German poets

German poets to know and love.

Celan

1920 - 1970

A Romanian who wrote in German, Paul Celan was a great poet of the Holocaust.

Goethe

1749-1832

In addition to his great work founded on the traditions of German culture and folklore, he was strongly influenced by Latin poets and poetry, especially following a visit to Rome which made a deep impression on him in the 1780s.

Roman Elegies XI

The Poet’s study

For you, O Graces

Goethe's study's classical décor

An den Mond

Füllest wieder Busch und Tal

Goethe to the Moon

Es war ein König in Thule

Es war ein König in Thule

Love and loyalty from Goethe's Faust

Rilke

1875 - 1926

The poetry of Rilke, a German-language poet, 1876 - 1926, was strongly introspective and included examination of how individuals can relate to transcendent issues such as death and the godhead.

Der Schwan (The Swan)

Diese Mühsal, durch noch Ungetanes

Rilke sees a metaphor for life and death in the swan on land and on water.

Schiller

1759 - 1805

Friedrich von Schiller, 1759 - 1805, the great contemporary of Goethe, wrote a first-rate translation of Books 2 and 4 of Virgil's Aeneid, covering the fall of Troy and Aeneas's love-affair with Dido.

Aeneid Book 2 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 6 - 9

Laocoon’s warning

Mit Staunen weilt der überraschte Blick

Laocoon's warning

Schiller's version of the Aeneid, Book 2, stanzas 35 - 39

Friedrich Schiller recounts the death of Laocoon

Jetzt aber stellt sich den entsetzten Blicken

Friedrich Schiller recounts the death of Laocoon

Aeneid Book 2 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 50 - 53

Aeneas is visited by Hector’s ghost

O sprich, und welcher Frevel durft’ es wagen,

In Schiller's German version, the fall of Troy has begun.

Aeneid Book 2 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 95 - 97

Schiller’s death of Priam

So, wahrlich, hielt’s mit seinem Feinde nicht

Schiller's translation of the death of Priam

Aeneid Book 4 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 24 - 31

A royal affair begins

Indeß war Eos leuchtendes Gespann

The royal affair begins

Aeneis 4, 67 - 72

Schiller tells of Dido’s anguish

Längst hatte sie, indem er sprach, den Rücken

Dido's complaint to Aeneas, by Schiller

Aeneid Book 4 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 73 - 75

Aeneas prepares to leave Carthage

Wie feurig auch der Menschliche sich sehnt

The Trojans prepare to sail from Carthage.

Aeneid Book 4 in Schiller's German translation, stanzas 125 - 128

Schiller describes the last of Dido

Sie ruft's, und steht schon oben auf den Stufen

Schiller describes Dido's final end