by Tom Kuhn
Part I
Early Poems: The Domestic Breviary and Other Poems, 1913–1924
UNCOLLECTED POEMS 1913–1918
Workers
[Arbeiter]
BFA 13, 11; 1913; P1989; D.C.
Those two
[Die Beiden]
BFA 13, 16; 1913; P1989; D.C.
The friend
[Die Freundin]
BFA 13, 18; 1913; P1989; D.C.
The beggar
[Der Bettler]
BFA 13, 23; 1913; P1989; D.C.
The memory
[Die Erinnerung]
BFA 13, 28; 1913; P1989; D.C.
Passion
[Leidenschaft]
BFA 13, 40; 1913; P1989; D.C.
The burning tree
[Der brennende Baum]
BFA 13, 48; 1913; P1913; D.C.
The poem was published in Die Ernte (The Harvest), a school magazine founded and edited by Brecht and others. There were six issues, between August 1913 and February 1914. This is the first of many poems by Brecht having to do with trees. They were a beloved subject, from diverse points of view, throughout his writing life.
The fool
[Der Narr]
BFA 13, 50; 1913; P1989; D.C.
Ash Wednesday
[Aschermittwoch]
BFA 13, 50; 1913; P1989; D.C.
The forgotten
[Die Vergessenen]
BFA 13, 52; 1913; P1989; D.C.
Gethsemane
[Gethsemaneh]
BFA 13, 57; 1913; P1989; D.C.
Professor Sil Maria
[Professor Sil Maria]
BFA 13, 60; 1913; P1989; D.C.
There is a possible Nietzsche reference here, in that Nietzsche wrote a poem, which Brecht knew from an anthology: ‘Sils-Maria’ (1881/82, named after the place in Switzerland).
A modern legend
[Moderne Legende]
BFA 13, 73; 1914; P1914; D.C.
The poem, remarkable for its awareness of suffering on both sides, was published in the literary supplement of the Augsburger Neueste Nachrichten, December 2, 1914.
Hans Lody
[Hans Lody]
BFA 13, 74; 1914; P1914; T.K.
Hans Lody was arrested in England as a German spy and executed by firing squad in November 1914. As the story went through the papers there was also quite a wave of literary responses. Brecht’s poem was published in the local newspaper a week after the previous poem and signed again with his first writerly pseudonym “Berthold Eugen.”
Golden fruits hang . . .
[Goldne Früchte hängen]
BFA 13, 75; 1914; P1982; D.C.
Brecht wrote this poem on the flyleaf of a copy of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
The mother’s name
[Der Name der Mutter]
BFA 13, 81; 1915; P1915; D.C.
Published, like ‘French peasants’ (below), in the München-Augsburger Abendzeitung. Neither poem glorifies war.
Legend of Holy Saturday
[Karsamstagslegende]
BFA 13, 83; 1915; P1915; T.K.
See also ‘Song on Black Saturday’ (in the Domestic Breviary).
Belgian fields
[Der belgische Acker]
BFA 13, 83; 1915; P1915; D.C.
The first publication of the poem, in the literary supplement of the Augsburger Neueste Nachrichten, carried this note: “In the spring of 1915 all those parts of Belgium occupied by Germany were ploughed and sown by German soldiers—all the fields as well as all unneeded roads and all the gardens.”
French peasants
[Französische Bauern]
BFA 13, 85; 1915; P1915; D.C.
Ballad of the dance
[Tanzballade]
BFA 13, 87; 1915; P1916; D.C.
A soldier’s grave
[Soldatengrab]
BFA 13, 89; 1916; P1916; D.C.
Bonnie Mac Sorel courted . . .
[Bonnie Mac Sorel freite]
BFA 13, 89; 1916; P1993; D.C.
The men of the sea
[Die Männer der See]
BFA 13, 90; 1916; P1993; D.C.
These “men of the sea” are the first of many in the poetry of the young Brecht.
Mothers of the missing
[Mütter Vermisster]
BFA 13, 92; c. 1916; P1965; D.C.
Serenade
[Serenade]
BFA 13, 93; c. 1916; P1982; D.C.
Song of the tree of vultures
[Das Lied vom Geierbaum]
BFA 13, 95; 1917; P1961; D.C.
Romanticism
[Romantik]
BFA 13, 97; 1917; P1965; T.K.
Caspar’s song with the lone refrain
[Caspars Lied mit der einen Strophe]
BFA 13, 99; 1917; P1965; T.K.
Brecht’s great friend (and later stage designer and collaborator) Caspar Neher volunteered in 1915 and saw long stretches of active service on the Western Front. Brecht and he maintained a lively correspondence.
The heaven of the disappointed
[Der Himmel der Enttäuschten]
BFA 13, 100; 1917; P1961; D.C.
Hymn to God
[Hymne an Gott]
BFA 13, 101; 1917; P1961; D.C.
This poem and ‘The heaven of the disappointed’ appear one on either side of the same sheet of paper.
The legend of the whore Evlyn Roe
[Die Legende der Dirne Evlyn Roe]
BFA 13, 102; 1917; P1918; D.C.
There is another appearance of this legend in ‘Sonnet Number 3’ (below).
Song of the saved
[Lied von den Seligen]
BFA 13, 104; 1917; P1965; T.K.
Baal, in religions of the ancient Near East, was a god particularly associated with storms and fertility. For Judaism and Christianity he became a “false god,” finally the Evil One himself, Beelzebub. However, Brecht also knew a street drinker and singer in Augsburg who had the surname Baal. He is the central character of Brecht’s first full-length play and, in various metamorphoses, remained a force throughout his creative life. Karamazov refers us of course to Dostoevsky.
Fairground song
[Plärrerlied]
BFA 13, 105; 1917; P1918; D.C.
The Plärrer is a fair that, as it did in Brecht’s day, comes twice yearly to Augsburg. A calliope (or steam organ), formerly used at traveling fairs and circuses, is a musical instrument consisting of a set of graded whistles supplied with steam or (later) compressed air, and played using a keyboard or by means of a revolving cylinder.
Dolly Little, the layer-out
[Leichenfrau Litje Pu]
BFA 13, 105; c. 1917; P1963; D.C.
A painter
[Von einem Maler]
BFA 13, 108; c. 1917; P1965; D.C.
Drawing on Rudyard Kipling’s novel The Light That Failed (1891), in a German translation of 1917 by Leopold Rosenzweig, Brecht gives his friend, the painter Caspar Neher, then a soldier, an exotically fictional life. Kipling’s hero, Dick Heldar, paints a picture on the inner wall of a tramp steamer heading from Lima to Auckland, and calls it the best picture he ever did.
Oh you can’t know what I suffer . . .
[O du ahnst nicht, was ich leide]
BFA 13, 109; c. 1917–18; P1982; T.K.
Teddy’s song
[Teddys Lied]
BFA 13, 109; 1917–18; P1982; D.C.
“Teddy” was one of Brecht’s pet names for his first girlfriend Paula Banholzer.
Song of the cloud in the night
[Das Lied von der Wolke der Nacht]
BFA 13, 111; 1918; P1918; D.C.
A martyr has his say
[Auslassungen eines Märtyrers]
BFA 13, 111; 1918; P1961; D.C.
At this point Brecht was still mostly living with his parents in Augsburg, in a separate room up in the attic above their apartment.
Wedekind’s funeral
[Zu Wedekinds Begräbnis]
BFA 13, 115; 1918; P1982; D.C.
Frank Wedekind, author of Spring Awakening and Lulu, died on March 9, 1918. Brecht, who revered him and named his first son for him, attended his (scandalous) funeral and wrote an obituary. See also the poem ‘Money.’
The siblings-tree
[Der Geschwisterbaum]
BFA 13, 118; 1918; P1982; D.C.
Below the poem Brecht wrote: “Dedicated to my brother Walter: For my dear mother on her birthday 1918.”
He was employed in the Institute . . .
[Er war Diener in dem Institute]
BFA 13, 123; 1918; P1963; D.C.
The poem, transmitted by a school friend, Hanns Otto Münsterer (see ‘Song for Herr Münsterer,’ below), probably has to do with Brecht’s war service as a medical orderly in 1918–19. See also ‘A song for the gentlemen on Ward D.’
Love song
[Liebeslied]
BFA 13, 123; 1918; P (third stanza) 1920; T.K.
Originally written for the play Baal, but it only survives in fragments in the later drafts.
Oh the unheard-of possibilities . . .
[O die unerhörten Möglichkeiten]
BFA 13, 124; 1918; P1982; D.C.
See also ‘Chorale of the man Baal,’ to which this poem may be a forerunner.
However that may be, there was a time . . .
[Wie dem auch sei, einmal]
BFA 13, 126; 1918; P1963; T.K.
Compare ‘A bitter love song’ (below).
Ditty
[Kuplet]
BFA 13, 126; c. 1918; P1993; D.C.
Song for Herr Münsterer
[Lied an Herrn Münsterer]
BFA 13, 127; c. 1918; P1963; T.K.
An ironic portrait of a younger school friend.
Psalm 2
[Psalm 2]
BFA 13, 128; c. 1918; P1993; D.C.
By its title, the poem anticipates the Psalms of 1920, but formally it is very unlike them.
Dance song
[Tanzlied]
BFA 13, 130; c. 1918; P1993; D.C.
I, Berthold Brecht . . .
[Ich, Berthold Brecht, alt: 20 Jahre]
1918; P2016 (Sinn und Form, 68.4); T.K.
This poem came to light recently and is not in BFA; all we have is a pencil draft with several corrections and alternatives. It appears to be the first of Brecht’s personal “testament” poems (compare ‘Poor B.B.’) and one of the first in which he engages with the personal history and the lyric gestures of the great fifteenth-century French poet François Villon.
SONGS FOR THE GUITAR BY BERT BRECHT AND HIS FRIENDS
Baal’s song
[Baals Lied]
BFA 11, 9; 1918; P1966, 1982 in this version; T.K.
Song of the tired rebels
[Lied der müden Empörer]
BFA 11, 9; 1917; P1961; D.C.
Little song
[Kleines Lied]
BFA 11, 9; 1917; P1961; D.C.
Song of the gallows-tree birds
[Lied der Galgenvögel]
BFA 11, 10; 1918; P1961; D.C.
A poem, like ‘Prototype of a bad man’ and several others in this early period, ghosted by François Villon, whose work Brecht got to know in translations by K. L. Ammer published in 1918.
A bitter love song
[Ein bitteres Liebeslied]
BFA 11, 11; 1918; P1965; D.C.
Compare ‘However that may be . . .’ (above).
A song for the gentlemen on Ward D
[Lied an die Kavaliere der Station D]
BFA 11, 11; 1918; P1982; D.C.
From October 1, 1918, to January 9, 1919, Brecht served as a medical orderly on Ward D (treating skin complaints and sexually transmitted diseases) of the Augsburg military hospital.
Song of love
[Lied von Liebe]
BFA 11, 12; 1918; P1975; D.C.
The youth and the maiden (Chastity ballad in a major key)
[Der Jüngling und die Jungfrau]
BFA 11, 13; 1918; P1961; D.C.
In 1919 Brecht used the poem in his one-act play Die Hochzeit (The Wedding).
PSALMS
Vision in white. 1st Psalm
[Vision in Weiss. 1. Psalm]
BFA 11, 17; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Hubris. 2nd Psalm
[Hybris. 2. Psalm]
BFA 11, 17; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Freight. 3rd Psalm
[Fracht. 3. Psalm]
BFA 11, 18; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Riding the swing-boats. 4th Psalm
[Vom Schiffschaukeln. 4. Psalm]
BFA 11, 18; 1920; P1961; D.C.
The swing-boats were one of the attractions of the Augsburg fair.
Song from the aquarium. 5th Psalm
[Gesang aus dem Aquarium. 5. Psalm]
BFA 11, 19; 1920; P1982; D.C.
6th Psalm
[6. Psalm]
BFA 11, 19; 1920; P1982; D.C.
In this poem and in ‘12th Psalm’ Brecht himself uses the word “nigger”; and elsewhere the word “negro.” So offensive nowadays, their use in these translations needs some justification. Around 1920 Brecht was said by his friend Hanns Otto Münsterer to be in the grip of “eine Art Negermanie” (a sort of negro-mania), which, with much else, served him in his violent assault on the—in his view—moribund society around him. It seemed necessary to keep the shock of his own words, as he deployed them in a struggle, quite simply, of life against death. Where “Neger” is translated with “black,” it was not out of timidity but because, in those precise contexts, that word was the livelier option. See also Brecht’s version of the Lead Belly song ‘Grey Goose,’ celebrating the black Americans’ resilience to oppression.
The seventh psalm
[Der siebente Psalm]
BFA 11, 20; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Song of my mother. 8th Psalm
[Lied von meiner Mutter. 8. Psalm]
BFA 11, 21; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Brecht’s mother died on May 1, 1920.
Heh. 9th Psalm
[Von He. 9. Psalm]
BFA 11, 22; 1920; P1967; D.C.
Heh (in German it is “He” in this poem and “Heh” in the ‘12th Psalm’) was Brecht’s pet name for Hedda Kuhn; Bi (or in other poems “Bittersweet”) for Paula Banholzer. They were two of his several women friends at this time.
10th Psalm
[10. Psalm]
BFA 11, 23; 1920; P1965; D.C.
The poem may not be unfinished. Under the number 5 Brecht made a row of nine dots, which may be an indication that the fifth stanza is to be read “without words,” in German “ohne Worte,” one dot for each letter.
The eleventh psalm
[Der elfte Psalm]
BFA 11, 23; 1920; P1960; D.C.
12th Psalm
[12. Psalm]
BFA 11, 25; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Brecht added this note: “22.5.1920, 10 in the evening, by the Lech [Augsburg’s river].” “Orge” (line 1) is Brecht’s nickname for his close friend Georg Pfanzelt. There’s a gap in the text after “stolen,” line 2. The German reads: “ich habe gestohlen.”
Song of the catacombs. 13th Psalm
[Gesang von den Katakomben. 13. Psalm]
BFA 11, 25; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Song of the summer. 14th Psalm
[Gesang vom Sommer. 14. Psalm]
BFA 11, 26; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Brecht noted: “On the day after Corpus Christi, Kimratshofen.” See note on ‘Full of innocence she lay . . .’ (below).
Song of myself. 16th Psalm
[Gesang von mir. 16. Psalm]
BFA 11, 28; 1920; P1982; D.C.
The title alludes to Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, of which a translation, by Max Hayek, appeared in 1920.
Train journey. 19th Psalm
[Eisenbahnfahrt. 19. Psalm]
BFA 11, 28; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Compare this psalm with ‘The 2nd Psalm’ (below).
The 1st Ps
alm
[Der erste Psalm]
BFA 11, 30; 1920; P1988; D.C.
The 2nd Psalm
[Der zweite Psalm]
BFA 11, 31; 1920; P1988; D.C.
Compare with ‘Song of the summer’ (above).
The 3rd Psalm
[Der 3. Psalm]
BFA 11, 32; 1920; P1988; D.C.
Compare with ‘Song of myself’ (above).
The 4th Psalm
[Der 4. Psalm]
BFA 11, 32; c. 1922; P1961; D.C.
God’s vespers
[Gottes Abendlied]
BFA 11, 34; c. 1920; P1961; D.C.
Psalm in spring
[Psalm im Frühjahr]
BFA 11, 34; c. 1920; P1961; D.C.
Morning on Mount Ararat
[Morgen auf dem Berg Ararat]
BFA 11, 35; c. 1920; P1982; D.C.
The offended party
[Der Beleidigte]
BFA 13, 168; 1920; P1993; D.C.
The poem is unfinished. In its form and tone it belongs with the Psalms.
UNCOLLECTED POEMS 1919–1924
Full of innocence she lay . . .
[Als sie unschuldsvoll in Kissen]
BFA 13, 132; 1919; P1993; D.C.
Brecht sent the poem in a letter to Paula Banholzer in Kimratshofen. She was living there on the orders of her parents, to keep secret the fact that she was pregnant with his child.
The days of all your bitternesses . . .
[Die Tage deiner Bitternisse]
BFA 13, 132; 1919; P1963; T.K.
Another poem for Paula Banholzer in her pregnancy.
Growing in the citron light . . .
[Aufgewachsen in dem zitronenfarbenen Lichte]
BFA 13, 132; 1919; P1982; D.C.
Brecht wrote the poem for his paternal grandmother’s eightieth birthday, September 19, 1919.
Half in my sleep . . .
[So halb im Schlaf ]
BFA 13, 133; 1919; P1982; D.C.