Shadow Lands: Selected Poems: 0788 (New Directions Paperbook) - Softcover

Bobrowski, Johannes; Mead, Matthew; Mead, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811212769 ISBN 13: 9780811212762

Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1994

Synopsis

Johannes Bobrowski is widely regarded as the most important German poet of this century. He began to write poetry on the Eastern Front in 1941 where, as a 24-year-old German soldier in Kaunas, he saw the "slavering wolves" of the SS drive the "grey processions" over a hill to death. A prisoner-of-war in Russia until 1949, he returned to Berlin to write with a purpose: to inform his countrymen of the history and myths of Eastern Europe and to preserve the memory of his childhood home. The poems in Shadow Lands reflect Bobrowski's hope, in the words of Michael Hamburger, "that he might succeed poetically in bearing witness to that vanished world," that is, the world of Eastern Germany before the war. With an almost real lyrical beauty, he evokes the pre-Christian era of the gods and heroes of the ancient Prussians. The poems also resonate with the most eloquent and picturesque descriptions of Bobrowski's homeland--its rivers, its forests and quiet villages--ultimately leaving us with a sense of "the hiddenness of all perfect things."

About this title

From the Back Cover

Johannes Bobrowski is widely regarded as the most important German poet of this century. He began to write poetry on the Eastern Front in 1941 where, as a 24-year-old German soldier in Kaunas, he saw the "slavering wolves" of the SS drive the "grey processions" over a hill to death. A prisoner-of-war in Russia until 1949, he returned to Berlin to write with a purpose: to inform his countrymen of the history and myths of Eastern Europe and to preserve the memory of his childhood home. The poems in Shadow Lands reflect Bobrowski's hope, in the words of Michael Hamburger, "that he might succeed poetically in bearing witness to that vanished world", that is, the world of Eastern Germany before the war. With an almost surreal lyrical beauty, he evokes the pre-Christian era of the gods and heroes of the ancient Prussians. The poems also resonate with the most eloquent and picturesque descriptions of Bobrowski's homeland - its rivers, its forests and quiet villages - ultimately leaving us with a sense of "the hiddenness of all perfect things". Personally intense and far-reaching, these poems have been treasured for their originality, their beauty, and their broad and lasting appeal.

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811212769
• ISBN 13: 9780811212762
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 206