by Tom Kuhn
Another poem for Paula Banholzer.
Ode to my father
[Ode an meinen Vater]
BFA 13, 134; 1919; P1982; D.C.
The old man in spring
[Der alte Mann im Frühling]
BFA 13, 136; 1919; P1965; D.C.
The virginia smoker
[Der Virginienraucher]
BFA 13, 138; 1919; P1923; D.C.
The mother
[Die Mutter]
BFA 13, 139; 1919; P1982; D.C.
My dear Bez
[Mein lieber Bez]
BFA 13, 143; 1919; P1967; D.C.
This verse letter to Brecht’s friend Otto Bezold appears to be incomplete.
Soldiers’ song
[Soldatengesang]
BFA 13, 145; 1919; P1982; D.C.
When at her look the violet light had fled . . .
[Und als sie wegsah das Violette ]
BFA 13, 145; 1919; P1982; D.C.
The negroes sing chorales over the Himalayas
[Die Neger singen Choräle über dem Himalajagebirge]
BFA 13, 146; c. 1919–20; P1982; D.C.
A song of praise
[Lobgesang nach: Befiehl du deine Wege]
BFA 13, 149; 1920; P1993; D.C.
The original hymn, by Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), has a dozen verses. It was translated into English (as ‘Commit thou all thy griefs . . .’) by John Wesley. Brecht’s parody is a “contrafacture,” as is also his ‘Great chorale of thanksgiving’ and indeed the whole Domestic Breviary in which that poem appears.
On vitality
[Über die Vitalität]
BFA 13, 150; 1920; P1982; T.K.
Through the room the wild wind comes . . .
[Durch die Kammer ging der Wind]
BFA 13, 151; 1920; P (first stanza) 1920; T.K.
Down in the willow grove . . .
[Dunkel im Weidengrund]
BFA 13, 152; 1920; P1982; T.K.
O you great trees there in the hollow places . . .
[Ihr grossen Bäume in den Niederungen]
BFA 13, 153; 1920; P1965; D.C.
Never have I loved you as I did then, ma soeur . . .
[Ich habe dich nie je so geliebt, ma soeur]
BFA 13, 153; 1920; P1961; D.C.
But in the cold of the night . . .
[Aber in kalter Nacht]
BFA 13, 154; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Absalom
[Von Absalom]
BFA 13, 154; 1920; P1982; D.C.
The lines belong in the context of Brecht’s plans for a play called David.
These lost sight of themselves . . .
[Jene verloren sich selbst aus den Augen]
BFA 13, 155; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Song of the sisters
[Lied der Schwestern]
BFA 13, 156; 1920; P1961; D.C.
That was Citizen Galgei . . .
[Das war der Bürger Galgei]
BFA 13, 157; 1920; P1961; D.C.
In 1920 Brecht was writing a play called Galgei. He never finished it, but developed the chief idea of this poem—the malleability of a man’s identity—in the play Man Equals Man (1926).
In the enjoyment of his leisure . . .
[Seine Musse zu geniessen]
BFA 13, 157; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Ballad in the hour of despondency
[Ballade in der Stunde der Entmutigung]
BFA 13, 159; 1920; P1982; D.C.
The birth in the tree . . .
[Die Geburt im Baum]
BFA 13, 160; 1920; P1961; D.C.
The river sings praises . . .
[Der Fluss lobsingt]
BFA 13, 163; 1920; P1967; D.C.
Another poem for Paula Banholzer. Brecht’s note: “To P.B. 27.4.20 at night.”
My brother’s death
[Meines Bruders Tod]
BFA 13, 163; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Mankeboddel Bol
[Mankeboddel Bol]
BFA 13, 164; 1920; P1982; D.C.
There’s a Zibebenmanke in Brecht’s play Drums in the Night, and a Pat Mankyboddle in his In the Jungle of the Cities.
The prodigal son
[Der verlorene Sohn]
BFA 13, 164; 1920; P1982; D.C.
When Heigei Gei . . .
[Orgelt Heigei Gei sein Kyrieleis]
BFA 13, 165; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Heigei Gei is the poetic persona of Brecht’s friend Otto Müllereisert.
Ballad
[Ballade]
BFA 13, 166; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Though they do seem to belong together, the two stanzas, in their origins at least, may have been intended as two separate poems.
Sun
[Sonne]
BFA 13, 166; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Grass and peppermint
[Von dem Gras und Pfefferminzkraut]
BFA 13, 167; 1920; P1967; D.C.
Prometheus
[Prometheus]
BFA 13, 167; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Brecht seems not to have finally decided the penultimate line. The translation here is of a likely possibility.
Since the spray hissed over . . .
[Seit die Sturzgischte zischten]
BFA 13, 168; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Let the grass too have meaning . . .
[Lass auch das Gras bedeuten]
BFA 13, 169; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Brecht noted: “27.5.20, evening, in K.” That is, in Kimratshofen. His son Frank, born on July 30, 1919, was fostered there.
Reason
[Die Vernunft]
BFA 13, 170; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Germany, you blonde pale land . . .
[Deutschland, du Blondes, Bleiches]
BFA 13, 171; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Our earth, undoing . . .
[Unsre Erde zerfällt]
BFA 13, 172; 1920; P1961; D.C.
The black woods go upwards . . .
[Die schwarzen Wälder aufwärts]
BFA 13, 175; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Again and again there were red evenings . . .
[Und immer wieder gab es Abendröte]
BFA 13, 175; 1920; P1961; D.C.
They have gone by . . .
[Sie sind vorübergegangen]
BFA 13, 176; 1920; P1982; D.C.
When she was done for . . .
[Als sie nun aus war ]
BFA 13, 177; 1920; P1961; D.C.
The subject of the poem is Brecht’s mother, who died on May 1, 1920.
The bull is strong . . .
[Stark ist der Stier]
BFA 13, 177; 1920; P1993; D.C.
A curtain-lecture
[Gardinenpredigt]
BFA 13, 180; 1920; P1982; D.C.
The poem is “spoken” by Marianne Zoff, a singer. Brecht got to know her in the autumn of 1919 when the Augsburg theater engaged her. A curtain-lecture, according to Dr. Johnson, is “a reproof given by a wife to her husband in bed.”
Memories
[Erinnerungen]
BFA 13, 184; 1920; P1930; D.C.
The last line alludes to Hebrews 13:9.
I am beginning to speak about death . . .
[Ich beginne zu sprechen vom Tod]
BFA 13, 184; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Interim reports to the mission stations
[Interimsberichte an die Missionen]
BFA 13, 185; 1920; P1982; D.C.
Karl Hollmann’s Song
[Karl Hollmanns Sang]
BFA 13, 186; 1920; P1961; D.C.
Report on an unsuccessful expedition
[Bericht von einer misslungenen Expedition]
BFA 13, 188; c. 1920; P1965; D.C.
The poem loosely concerns the Peruvian aviator Jorge Chávez, who did fly over the Alps in September 1910 but died, aged twenty-three, of injuries sustained on crash-landing in Domodossola, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Brecht is said—by his friend Münsterer—to have written and indeed published a much longer poem on this
subject in 1916.
Thoughts before the photograph of Therese Meier
[Betrachtung vor der Fotografie der Therese Meier]
BFA 13, 188; c. 1920; P1965; D.C.
Epistle on suicide
[Epistel über den Selbstmord]
BFA 13, 190; c. 1920; P1961; D.C.
In the beginning, in my childhood
[In den frühen Tagen meiner Kindheit]
BFA 13, 191; c. 1920; P1965; D.C.
The poem seems to have been intended as a three-part canon, the first to be sung by a girl, the second by a man, the third by an old man. It resembles the ‘Song of the smoke’ in Scene 1 of The Good Person of Szechwan and the refrain in both songs is largely the same (see below, Part IV).
Political observations
[Politische Betrachtungen]
BFA 13, 194; c. 1920; P1961; D.C.
“The Black Plague” (in German “die schwarze Schande”) may be a direct allusion to a medal issued in 1920 by the Munich artist Karl Goetz, the two faces of which amount to a racist polemic against the presence of black French soldiers in the occupied Rhineland. From Pole to Pole was a popular travel book. (Robert Graves, in the Foreword to his Poems 1938–45, relates the same story about the Scilly Islanders.)
Years ago in that bygone ark of mine . . .
[Vor Jahren in meiner verflossenen Arche]
BFA 13, 195; c. 1920; P1965; D.C.
Anna speaks ill of Biti
[Anna redet schlecht von Biti]
BFA 13, 197; c. 1920–21; P1967; D.C.
“Biti” (more usually “Bidi”) was a nickname for Brecht around that time. There is very little punctuation in the typescript (none at line endings).
To M
[An M]
BFA 13, 205; 1921; P1982; D.C.
This poem, like the next, has to do with the actress Marianne Zoff, to whom Brecht was briefly married.
On the way from Augsburg to Timbuktu . . .
[Auf dem Wege von Augsburg]
BFA 13, 206; 1921; P1982; D.C.
March
[März]
BFA 13, 208; 1921; P1961; D.C.
Epistle
[Einer kann herkommen aus Ulm]
BFA 13, 209; 1921; P1961; D.C.
I used to think . . .
[Früher dachte ich]
BFA 13, 209; 1921; P1967; D.C.
I am absolutely certain . . .
[Ich bin vollkommen überzeugt]
BFA 13, 210; 1921; P1967; D.C.
Balaam Lai in his thirtieth year . . .
[Balaam Lai in seinem dreissigsten Jahr]
BFA 13, 212; 1921; P1982; D.C.
Now in the night . . .
[Jetzt in der Nacht]
BFA 13, 216; 1921; P1967; D.C.
There at the beginning . . .
[Am ersten Tage schon gleich zu Beginne]
BFA 13, 217; 1921; P1993; D.C.
Ballad of the Captain of Köpenik
[Ballade vom Hauptmann von Köpenik]
BFA 13, 224; 1921; P1982; D.C.
On October 16, 1906, the cobbler and serial offender Wilhelm Voigt, masquerading as an army officer, commandeered a troop of soldiers and ordered them to help him rob the town hall in Köpenick, just east of Berlin. Trusting his uniform, they obeyed. Voigt got four years but was pardoned by the Kaiser after serving less than two. He became a folk hero. Brecht’s poem is one of the earliest literary treatments of the subject (and deals not with Voigt’s exploits but rather with militarism). Carl Zuckmayer followed with a play in 1931, which itself gave rise to films.
The lovely blue of his beloved skies . . .
[Des lieben Himmels schöne Bläue]
BFA 13, 227; 1921; P1982; D.C.
Oh my youthful days . . .
[Oh! Ihr Zeiten meiner Jugend!]
BFA 13, 228; 1921; P1961; D.C.
Balaam Lai in July
[Balaam Lai im Juli]
BFA 13, 231; 1921; P1982; D.C.
The shipwrecked sailor’s report
[Bericht des Schiffbrüchigen]
BFA 13, 232; 1921; P1925; D.C.
Song of lost innocence folding the linen
[Lied der verderbten Unschuld beim Wäschefalten]
BFA 13, 233; 1921; P1951; D.C.
Ballad of the death of Anna Cloudface
[Ballade vom Tod des Anna Gewölkegesichts]
BFA 13, 235; c. 1921; P1961; D.C.
Tahiti
[Tahiti]
BFA 13, 238; c. 1921; P (first three verses, with variants) 1930; D.C.
Bidi is a persona of Brecht himself. Who Topp and Gedde might be—other than characters in this poem—is not known. Passengers on the Titanic are said to have sung ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’ as she went down (Brecht quotes it in English).
Silk brightly glowing round it like an orange . . .
[Von Seide bunt umglüht]
BFA 13, 240; c. 1921–22; P1993; D.C.
Mary
[Maria]
BFA 13, 243; 1922; P1924; D.C.
One of several Christmas poems by Brecht. See, for example, ‘Christmas legend.’
Ballad
[Ballade]
BFA 13, 244; 1922; P1965; D.C.
Calendar poem
[Kalendergedicht]
BFA 13, 250; 1922; P1961; D.C.
Lupu Pick and Manke Pansche
[Lupu Pick und Manke Pansche]
BFA 13, 254; 1922; P1982; D.C.
The second stanza is two lines short.
Ballad of the old woman
[Ballade von der alten Frau]
BFA 13, 257; 1922; P1922; D.C.
A Berlin newspaper, Das Tagebuch, published this and the next poem “to introduce the winner of the 1922 Kleist Prize” to its readers. Brecht won it for his first three plays, Baal, Drums in the Night, and In the Jungle of the Cities.
On the proper enjoyment of spirituous liquors
[Über den richtigen Genuss von Spirituosen]
BFA 13, 259; 1922; P1922; D.C.
Evening in the menagerie
[Abend in der Menagerie]
BFA 13, 260; c. 1922; P1982; D.C.
Karl Valentin, the Munich comic whom Brecht had known, admired, and worked with for two or three years by 1922, referred to his ensemble as “the menagerie.”
The song of the roses of the Shipka Pass
[Das Lied der Rosen vom Schipkapass]
BFA 13, 261; c. 1922; P1965; D.C.
The Shipka Pass is in the Balkan Mountains, in Bulgaria. It was the scene of heavy fighting during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Below it is the Valley of the Roses. Brecht sketched out a tune for this poem.
Epistles to the Chicago people
[Episteln an die Chicagoleute]
BFA 13, 262; c. 1922; P1982; D.C.
It is unclear whether “2” means the lines are part 2 of one poem or a second (and complete) Epistle. For the 1965 edition of Brecht’s poems, Elisabeth Hauptmann altered the penultimate line to “Deceived and deceivers,” perhaps with the authority to do so, perhaps not.
Thoughts of a gramophone owner
[Gedanken eines Grammophonbesitzers]
BFA 13, 262; c. 1922; P1924; D.C.
In fact Adelina Patti died in 1919, at her castle Craig-y-Nos, near Swansea. Multum non multa: much, not many—that is, thoroughness, not flightiness and superficiality.
Sentimental memories before an inscription
[Sentimentalische Erinnerungen vor einer Inschrift]
BFA 13, 265; c. 1922; P1961; T.K.
Christmas legend
[Weihnachtslegende]
BFA 13, 271; 1923; P1923; D.C.
German sell-out
[Deutscher Ausverkauf]
BFA 13, 275; c. 1923; P1982; D.C.
Things you need to know
[Dinge, die einer wissen muss]
BFA 13, 275; c. 1923; P1982; D.C.
Lala
[Lala]
BFA 13, 278; c. 1923; P1982; D.C.
The procession in Cap
ri
[Die Prozession in Capri]
BFA 13, 281; 1924; P1982; D.C.
A short epistle alluding to some disagreements
[Kleine Epistel, einige Unstimmigkeiten entfernt berührend]
BFA 13, 281; 1924; P1924; D.C.
The poem is one response by Brecht to Alfred Kerr’s review (December 18, 1924) of Arnolt Bronnen’s Katalaunische Schlacht (Battle of the Catalaunian Plains). Kerr damned Brecht and Bronnen together as representatives of the new wave of theater. In the final lines of the poem Brecht makes his own use of Kerr’s words.
To my son
[An meinen Sohn]
BFA 13, 284; c. 1924; P1982; D.C.
Brecht and Helene Weigel’s son Stefan was born on November 3, 1924.
Ane Smith relates the conquest of America
[Ane Smith erzählt die Eroberung Amerikas]
BFA 13, 286; c. 1924; P1982; D.C.
The poem belongs in the second act of Brecht’s unfinished opera Man from Manhattan (Mann aus Manhattan).
The good times
[Das gute Zeitalter]
BFA 13, 287; c. 1924; P1982; T.K.
Jeppe Karl
[Jeppe Karl]
BFA 13, 292; c. 1924; P1982; D.C.
Lion Feuchtwanger sketched a play called Jeppe Karl. Brecht’s poem may or may not have to do with that.
Anna Schreiber’s last letter
[Letzter Brief der Anna Schreiber]
BFA 13, 293; c. 1924; P1993; D.C.
Brecht made a sketch for a novel The Life of Anna Schreiber.
Remarkable how even the greatest pass . . .
[Es ist doch merkwürdig]
BFA 13, 296; c. 1924/25; P1982; D.C.
From 1630 till his death in 1632 Tilly was commander-in-chief of the imperial forces in the Thirty Years’ War. He is buried at Altötting in Bavaria.
BERTOLT BRECHT’S DOMESTIC BREVIARY
The bread and the little children
[Vom Brot und den Kindlein]
BFA 11, 41; 1920; P1925; D.C.
Apfelböck or the lily of the field
[Apfelböck oder die Lilie auf dem Felde]
BFA 11, 42; 1919; P1920; D.C.
The poem appeared in the first and only issue of Das Bordell (The Brothel). The boy Apfelböck (actually Joseph, not Jakob, born 1903, not 1906) murdered his parents on July 19, 1919, and the case was reported in the newspapers on August 19–21.