The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht

by Bertolt Brecht, David Constantine (Translator), Tom Kuhn (Translator)

Times Literary Supplement • Books of the Year ("The most generous available English collection of Brecht’s poetry.") A landmark literary event, The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht is the most extensive English translation of Brecht’s poetry to date. Widely celebrated as the greatest German playwright of the twentieth century, Bertolt Brecht was also, as George Steiner observed, “that very rare phenomenon, a great poet, for whom poetry is an almost everyday visitation and drawing of breath.” Hugely prolific, Brecht also wrote more than two thousand poems―though fewer than half were published in his lifetime, and early translations were heavily censored. Now, award-winning translators David Constantine and Tom Kuhn have heroically translated more than 1,200 poems in the most comprehensive English collection of Brecht’s poetry to date. Written between 1913 and 1956, these poems celebrate Brecht’s unquenchable “love of life, the desire for better and more of it,” and reflect the technical virtuosity of an artist driven by bitter and violent politics, as well as by the untrammeled forces of love and erotic desire. A monumental achievement and a reclamation, The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht is a must-have for any lover of twentieth-century poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Germany, German Literature, Literature

1312 pages, Hardcover

Published December 4, 2018

About the author

Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. A seminal theatre practitioner of the twentieth century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife and long-time collaborator, the actress Helene Weigel—with its internationally acclaimed productions.

From his late twenties Brecht remained a life-long committed Marxist who, in developing the combined theory and practice of his 'epic theatre', synthesized and extended the experiments of Piscator and Meyerhold to explore the theatre as a forum for political ideas and the creation of a critical aesthetics of dialectical materialism. Brecht's modernist concern with drama-as-a-medium led to his refinement of the 'epic form' of the drama (which constitutes that medium's rendering of 'autonomization' or the 'non-organic work of art'—related in kind to the strategy of divergent chapters in Joyce's novel Ulysses, to Eisenstein's evolution of a constructivist 'montage' in the cinema, and to Picasso's introduction of cubist 'collage' in the visual arts). In contrast to many other avant-garde approaches, however, Brecht had no desire to destroy art as an institution; rather, he hoped to 're-function' the apparatus of theatrical production to a new social use. In this regard he was a vital participant in the aesthetic debates of his era—particularly over the 'high art/popular culture' dichotomy—vying with the likes of Adorno, Lukács, Bloch, and developing a close friendship with Benjamin. Brechtian theatre articulated popular themes and forms with avant-garde formal experimentation to create a modernist realism that stood in sharp contrast both to its psychological and socialist varieties. "Brecht's work is the most important and original in European drama since Ibsen and Strindberg," Raymond Williams argues, while Peter Bürger insists that he is "the most important materialist writer of our time."

As Jameson among others has stressed, "Brecht is also ‘Brecht’"—collective and collaborative working methods were inherent to his approach. This 'Brecht' was a collective subject that "certainly seemed to have a distinctive style (the one we now call 'Brechtian') but was no longer personal in the bourgeois or individualistic sense." During the course of his career, Brecht sustained many long-lasting creative relationships with other writers, composers, scenographers, directors, dramaturgs and actors; the list includes: Elisabeth Hauptmann, Margarete Steffin, Ruth Berlau, Slatan Dudow, Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Caspar Neher, Teo Otto, Karl von Appen, Ernst Busch, Lotte Lenya, Peter Lorre, Therese Giehse, Angelika Hurwicz, and Helene Weigel herself. This is "theatre as collective experiment [...] as something radically different from theatre as expression or as experience."

There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Joseph Losey, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.

During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the Exilliteratur. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his most famous plays.

Reviews

[Allen Horne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a poet and I write comedic poems. I'm no intellectual and my ability to follow abstractions are nil. Consequently, when I read poets I often become bored because I have no idea what they're talking about. Such obscurity is defined as revolutionary, but for me the excitement wanes rather quickly. Which brings me to Brecht, who (whom??) I have just begun to read. Well, he doesn't use five-dollar words, he doesn't loop around from meaning-to-meaning, he doesn't parade his great intellect, and though he delves into social injustice its not via screaming diatribes. As Elizabeth Bishop said of her own poetry, she sought complexity, not obscurity. Currently, however, the more opaque the greater the university industry gears up. And let's face it, poets are not funny and great. They have absolutely no sense of humor.

For me the breakthrough came when I decided to be simple. For after all, what is writing but communication? Located on that edge where readers sense something that the poet unearths. Poet as axe. And the difference between talent and genius is easy to understand: A talented writer is someone who can shoot an arrow farther than anyone else can. A genius is someone who can shoot an arrow farther than anyone else can see. I am in the second group because when I begin to write a poem, I never can see where I'm going. Well, currently, I am going to Tharathac, PA, and the English Dept. at Thara University, where Jane Ruskin et al., are editing an anthology of American poetry.

Great writing doesn't come from an author but from something through the author. The problem is, you can't tell who the something is going to go through. Nor does the aforementioned something. As a poet, your job is perfection of the craft. For talented writers inspiration is what makes their work interesting. For a genius, there is no inspiration other than perseverance and compulsion. And craft, a great writer might makes hundreds of changes but a talented poet will stop somewhere. This is because their craft begins to fade or become repetitive. My own never does.

Also, I think writer's block is bullshit. You don't hear a surgeon say he has surgical block when he's about to take out your gall bladder. So what makes a writer so precious.

Uh, did someone as for my opinion? Well, anyway. . . .

See ya, Allen

[Sohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3.5/5~

বের্টোল্ট ব্রেখট হলেন বিখ্যাত জার্মান নাট্যকার ও কবি। তাঁর বিখ্যাত নাটকগুলোর মধ্যে রয়েছে গ্যালিলিওর জীবন, জননী সাহসিকা আর তাঁর সন্তানেরা, ইত্যাদি।
তাঁর নাট্য ও কবিতা অনুবাদ করেছেন আমার আপনার প্রিয় অনেক নাট্যকার ও কবি। সুব্রত রুদ্র সম্পাদিত ‘বের্টোল্ট ব্রেখটঃ কবিতাসংগ্রহ’ বইটিতে অনুবাদক হিসেবে যাঁরা রয়েছেনঃ
বিষ্ণু দে, সমর সেন, ঋত্বিক ঘটক, উৎপল দত্ত, সুনীল গঙ্গোপাধ্যায়, সৌমিত্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়, সহ আরও অনেকে।

জেনারেল তোমার বোমারু বিমানটা জব্বর।
বাতাসের চেয়ে জোর ওর ছুট, ভার বইতে পারে হাতির
চেয়ে বেশি
কিন্তু ওর একটি গলদঃ
ওর মিস্ত্রি মজুর লাগে।

জেনারেল, মানুষ জীবটি বেশ কাজের ।
সে উড়তে ওস্তাদ, সে মারতেও ওস্তাদ।
কিন্তু তার একটি গলদঃ
সে ভাবতেও পারে।

(জেনারেল, অনুবাদঃ বিষ্ণু দে)

এরকম প্রায় সকল কবিতাই ব্যাঙ্গ বিদ্রুপ আর প্রতিবাদে ভরা। উৎপল দত্তের অনুবাদগুলো বেশ ভালো লেগেছে।

জোড়াতালির গান
অনুবাদঃ উৎপল দত্ত

প্রতিবারই
যখনই হয়েছে শতছিন্ন আমাদের পরনের জামা
তোমরা এসেছ সাততাড়াতাড়ি, বলেছ,
এ জামায় আর চলে না,
সবাই মিলে সর্বোতভাবে করতে হবে প্রতিকার-
ছুটেছ লালায়িত প্রত্যাশায় মালিক সকাশে,
এদিকে আমাদের শীতকম্পিত প্রতিক্ষা।
তারপর
ফিরে এসেছ বিজয়দৃপ্ত হাস্যে
ভিক্ষালব্ধ একফালি ন্যাকড়া হাতে,
বলেছ জামায় তালি মেরে নাও।
বেশ, মারলাম জোড়াতালি,
কিন্তু বলো দেখি,
আস্ত জামাটা কবে পাব?
প্রতিবারই
যখনই ক্ষুধায় করেছি আর্তনাদ,
তোমরা এসেছ সাততাড়াতাড়ি, বলেছ,
এভাবে দিন চলে না,
সবাই মিলে সর্ব উপায়ে করতে হবে প্রতিকার –
ছুটেছ লালায়িত প্রত্যাশায় মালিক-সকাশে।
এদিকে আমাদের ক্ষুধাজর্জর প্রতিক্ষা।
তারপর এসেছ ফিরে বিজয়দৃপ্ত হাস্যে
এক মুঠো ভিক্ষার অন্ন হাতে,
বলেছ, এই দিয়ে চালিয়ে নাও।
বেশ নিলাম চালিয়ে,
কিন্তু বলো দেখি,
চালের আড়ৎটা পাব কবে?
জোড়াতালিতে আর চলবে না,
চাই আস্ত জামা।
মুষ্টি ভিক্ষা আর চলবে না,
চাই আড়ৎ, ধানের গোলা।
বস্তির ঘরে আর চলবে না, চাই পুরো কারখানা।
… … … … … … … … …

[Estela · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Y, además, los esfuerzos excesivos al llegar a una cierta edad
hacen envejecer en seguida a los hombres inutilizándolos
para la lucha por la vida».

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brecht treats his life and times with a fine mix of zest and scorn. Some uncollected gems: Citron Light, Mary, Weigel’s Props, Ode High Dignitary, Joy Beginning, Critical Attitude.

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The impact of Brecht's large collected poetry was astonishing to me. Although he writes in many forms, he takes the ballad form especially into all the territory of human life poetry could be used to express. and some seemingly simple poems start from non-"political" beginnings you wouldn't ordinarily think came from his pen. The political poems are very delicate and about much more than the current history he witnessed and war and filled with a religious feeling that is pre-industrial. [this book: good translations into English, I accept, i.e. not having the originals or knowing German enough anyway]

"And the sky in the evening became as dark as smoke
And at night with the stars it kept the light pending
But early enough and brightly day broke
So that there should still be for her a morning and an evening"
from The Drowned Girl

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of hits, a lot of misses. The hits are enough to carry the rating.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this book but before writing this review I read another book that drastically changed my thoughts on this collection as a whole.  I was going to write a much harsher review on the politics and hypocrisy of the author, and then in reading the author's journals I realized that he was not a hypocrite at all, however much I disagree with his political perspective, but that he was a clear-eyed writer who despite being a prominent leftist nonetheless also was able to see the evils and horrors of Soviet Russia for what they were, and that sense of balance is entirely missing from this book, which has a lot of criticism to make of Hitler's Germany but which appears, at least through omission, to ignore the horrors of the Soviet Union and the violence of that evil regime.  The fault of that, I believe, belongs to the translators and editors of this collection, who clearly do not wish to point out Brecht's hostility towards Soviet violence in their one-sided attempt to paint Brecht as a loyal leftist who turned his rhetorical guns only towards capitalism and the evils of Fascist Germany, which is simply not true.

This particular book is a sprawling collection of more than 1000 pages of poetry written by Brecht over the course of his life ranging from his youthful songs to his elderly reflections on his own blame and responsibility for the sad state of the world that he found it in postwar Communist East Germany.  The editors of this collection, when faced with the massive collection of poetry to choose from given Brecht's immense fecundity as a writer, divide the collection into five parts.  The first part consists of the domestic breviary as well as other poems written by Brecht between 1913 and 1924, many of them uncollected, which takes up 250 pages of the book.  After that the authors look at Brecht's poetry in Berlin between 1925 and 1933, which makes up a lengthy collection of uncollected poems, Augsburg Sonnets, The Reader For City Dwellers, and songs from some of the author's plays from that time.  After that the editors consider Brecht's poetry from exile in Denmark from 1933-1938, including more uncollected poems, poems for Margarete Steffin, the German War Primer complex, as well as the Svendborg Poems.  After that the editors collect Brecht's WWII poems in Europe and America from 1938-1945, including some studies, more uncollected poems, selections from his plays written during this period, the Steffin collection, more poems for Margarete Steffin, as well as Chinese Poems and some Hollywood Elegies.  Finally, the book closes with poems written after the war, including two sets of uncollected late poems and the Buckow Elegies, along with notes and indices of the German and English titles and first lines of the poems in this collection.

Even knowing that a great many of the problems of this book are the responsibility of the editors and translators, there is still a great gulf between the poet and I in terms of our worldviews.  Brecht was a passionately immoral person whose personal life was deeply disordered, whose religious worldview was heathen in nature, and whose political worldview was decidedly leftist.  Many of the poems here reflect the author's limited insights on the West and his inveterate hostility to Hitler, who is often viewed as a "housepainter" in these works and seldom called by name.  The poems show the author's seeming obsession with women as whores and his inability to come to grips with Christian morality and faith.  Yet towards the end of his life, the author came to realize that the way he had lived his life had some definite negative effects and he did come to at least some sort of self-criticism that, nonetheless, did not lead him into full repentance.  One wonders if the editors, who are so keen to view Brecht as some immensely insightful visionary, are as reflective as the man whose poems they have collected and translated.

[Klaus Mattes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich spreche über in etwa ein Drittel der Lyrik Brechts, die ich selbstverständlich in Deutsch gelesen habe. Es handelt sich um den orangen dritten Band aus der Gesamtausgabe der edition suhrkamp. Er bringt sämtliche Gedichte der Exil- und DDR-Jahre ab 1941 in chronologischer Reihenfolge. Es geht hier also nicht um „zubereitete“ Anthologien wie „Liebesgedichte“ oder „Beste Gedichte“. Deswegen fällt schon auch etwas störend auf, wie uneben dieser Mann immer wieder gearbeitet hat. Geniale Klassiker des 20. Jahrhunderts stehen mitten zwischen zur Verzweiflung treibenden spinnerten Zyklen, in denen Brecht mal „weiser Chinese“, mal „finnischer Bauer“, mal treuer Parteisoldat werden will.

Dazu kommt, dass Suhrkamp, gemäß der Reihenkonzeption, viel Buch für wenig Geld zu schaffen, die Seiten ohne Einsatz größerer Abstände mit vielen, kleinen schwarzen Buchstaben vollgestopft hat. Für sich bleiben und poetisch atmen kann da gar nichts. Es wird angezeigt, wo die „Buckower Elegien“ anfangen, wo sie allerdings aufhören, das wurde mir nie so klar. Gehört etwa das „Lied der Ströme“, in dem Brecht jeweils die großen Flüsse adressiert, Nil, Mississippi, Amazonas und so weiter und behauptet, das Proletariat werde mit ihrer Hilfe das Paradies bauen, noch dazu? (Auch ein ganz gutes Beispiel für die öfters gar nicht so beeindruckende Dichtkunst des Altmeisters: „Tempel und Paläste sehen zu ihm her / Und die Knechtschaft ist sechstausend Jahre alt / Doch sie wird wohl nicht viel älter mehr.“ ) Register, Inhaltsverzeichnis, Anmerkungen und Kommentare kommen leider erst in Band IV, den ich nicht habe. (Kann ja noch kommen, aber vorher erst mal Band II, würde ich meinen.)

Es fällt auf, dass Brecht sich gern in Nebenbei-Spielereien zu gerade laufenden Projekten übte. Die „Galileo“-Gedichte, die „Kreidekreis“-Gedichte, die „Volpone“-Gedichte, die Gedichte für die Schauspielerin Weigel und die für den Bühnendesigner Caspar Neher. Man käme gut ohne aus.

Es fällt auf, dass er sich vom Ton her gerne volksnah und hemdsärmelig gab. Was bei verschiedenen Gelegenheiten ziemlich schwache Kindergedichte gebar, mit denen er vielleicht vorübergehende Anfälle von Augsburg-Heimweh pflegte. Auch ohne Kinder kommt einem das Herumbolzen in deutscher Sprache bisweilen herablassend vor. (Also ich mach' das jetzt für einfache Gemüter.) „Im Haus ist der Pesttod / Im Frei'n ist der Kältetod. / Wohin gehen wir dann? / Die Sau macht ins Futter / Die Sau ist meine Mutter / O Mutter mein, o Mutter mein / Was tust du mir an?“

Nachdem ich hier so eine Weile gelesen hatte, war ich zum Schluss gekommen, dass ich die Privatperson Bertolt Brecht noch immer nicht für einen sympathischen Menschen halte. Er mit seinem Unternehmergeschick, mehr oder weniger lebenslang eine Zuarbeiterinnenschar von talentierten und fleißigen Frauen zu beschäftigen, denen er mal dankt, wie im Falle der Faktenrecherchen fürs „Galilei“-Stück, das er bei Charles Laughton ablieferte, (nur sehr entbehrliche Dankgedichte), öfters öffentlich nie, er mit seiner Wendigkeit, Blitzgescheitheit, Gewissenlosigkeit, mit denen er sich durch die tückischen Apparate von Walter Ulbricht, Josef Stalin, Wilhelm Pieck lavierte, kommt als „versierter Spieler“ herüber. Ich halte die Volkstümlichkeit und Chinaliebe für nicht weniger aufgesetzt als die Kapitalistenzigarre und Fernfahrerlederjacke beim klapperdürren Münchner Brecht der frühen Jahre. Dieser Herr B. verstand sich drauf, aus sich selbst eine Handelsmarke zu machen und diese immer wieder attraktiv zu verkaufen.

Am Ersten Mai
Gehn Vater und Mutter in einer Reih
Kämpfen für ein beßres Leben.
Fron und Armut darf’s nicht geben:
Da sind wir auch dabei.
Grün sind die Zweige
Die Fahne ist rot.
Nur der Feige
Duldet Not.

‘s ist Monat Mai.
Im Acker die Hälmchen stehn Reih an Reih.
Gute Ernte – gutes Leben!
Lasset uns die Hand drauf geben
Dass es die unsere sei.
Grün sind die Fluren
Die Fahne ist rot.
Unser die Arbeit
Unser das Brot!

Dabei halte ich ihm zugute, dass er den orthodoxen Marxismus tatsächlich voll und ganz geglaubt hat. 20 Seiten lang erklärt er ihn uns im homerischen Klang eines Langgedichts „Das Manifest“, das so dumm und kunstlos ja nicht ist, dann allerdings, wie noch mehrere dieser eher mühsam zu schaffenden Langtexte, nie fertiggemacht wurde. Wenn man glaubt, dass der von der UdSSR geleitete Parteienkommunismus die Armen der Welt befreien und glücklich machen kann, dann darf man ruhig auch kommunistische Gedichte schreiben, finde ich. Und im Zweiten Weltkrieg konnte man daran noch gut glauben. Nicht nur auf der Flucht vor den Nazis, sondern auch in Indien, Argentinien, England, Kanada.

Vom berühmt-berüchtigten Umzug „Freiheit und Democracy“ kann ich nur Ausschnitte bringen:

Gleichen Tritts marschiern die Lehrer
Machtverehrer, Hirnverheerer
Für das Recht, die deutsche Jugend
Zu erziehn zur Schlächtertugend.

Folgen die Herrn Mediziner
Menschverächter, Nazidiener
Fordernd, dass man ihnen buche
Kommunisten für Versuche.

Drei Gelehrte, ernst und hager
Planer der Vergasungslager
Fordern auch für die Chemie
Freiheit und Democracy

Folgend, denn es braucht der Staat sie
Alle die entnazten Nazi
Die als Filzlaus in den Ritzen
Aller hohen Ämter sitzen.

Dort die Stürmerredakteure
Sind besorgt, dass man sie höre
Und nicht etwa jetzt vergesse
Auf die Freiheit unsrer Presse.

Einige unsrer besten Bürger
Einst geschätzt als Judenwürger
Jetzt geknebelt, seht ihr schreiten
Für das Recht der Minderheiten.

Frührer Parlamentarier
In den Hitlerzeiten Arier
Bietet sich als Anwalt an:
Schafft dem Tüchtigen freie Bahn!

Und der schwarze Marketier
Sagt, befraget: Ich marschier
Auf Gedeih (und auf Verderb)
Für den Freien Wettbewerb.

Künstler, Musiker, Dichterfürsten
Schrei´nd nach Lorbeer und nach Würsten
All die Guten, die geschwind
Nun es nicht gewesen sind.

Und die Hitlerfrauenschaft
Kommt, die Röcke hochgerafft
Fischend mit gebräunter Wade
Nach des Erbfeinds Schokolade.

Blut und Dreck in Wahlverwandtschaft
Zog das durch die deutsche Landschaft
Rülpste, kotzte, stank und schrie:
Freiheit und Democracy!

Aber es bleibt letztlich dann nicht so viel von diesem Schlussband der Lyrikgesamtausgabe, das wir heute noch als „groß“ bezeichnen wollen. Doch muss man schon sagen: Wo er es gut gemacht hat, was in diesem Leben immer wieder vorkommen konnte, da hat er es wirklich sehr gut gemacht. Besser als alle neben ihm in dieser Kultursprache der Welt. Ein Klassiker also. Er wird uns bleiben.

Laute (1953)

Später, im Herbst
Hausen in den Silberpappeln große Schwärme von Krähen
Aber den ganzen Sommer durch höre ich
Da die Gegend vogellos ist
Nur Laute von Menschen rührend.
Ich bin’s zufrieden.

Anmerkung: Brecht gehört leider zu den Autoren, bei denen manche Werke über x verschiedene Goodreads-Threads verteilt besprochen werden. Ich habe mich hier bewusst gegen einen Titel entschieden, der nur auf Deutsch bestellt werden könnte, denn, wie üblich, sind es dann nur ganz wenige Deutschsprachige, die je mal was dazu schreiben. Ich habe mich gegen „Liebesgedichte“, „Seine großen Gedichte“ oder dergleichen entschieden, weil das einen ganz falschen Eindruck von der Zusammenstellung, die ich gelesen habe, erwecken würde. Und ich hatte mich am Ende immer noch zwischen verschiedenen englischen Gesamtausgaben zu entscheiden, wo die einen Leute zu dem einen Buch das Eine, andere Leute anlässlich einer anderen Edition was anderes sagen. Und außerdem gehört zu Brecht eine derart unendlich lange Werkeliste, dass ich meine Segel strich, bevor ich „mein“ oranges Taschenbuch je irgendwo erblicken konnte.

[Rabi Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful, Profound, Connected to soil,

The first poem which grabbed me instantly was " Questions from a worker who reads" which I read 7 years ago. See, what an insightful and profound the title is. It captured me so hard that I started researching more about Brecht. I started a lot about his work. Though I have a theatre actor, his work opened the door to learn more about theatre, acting, direction. His poems, plays are like a burning substance. If you touch it, you will definitely feel its strength. I find a deep connection with his society, with his country. He always had a protest in his work. In this book, there are many poems which can embraced you so much. I will definitely recommend this book to everyone. His work can give you a different perspective on life.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I primarily read the main collections, the Domestic Breviary, Svendborg Poems, and Buckow Elegies. Overall, Brecht’s poetry is not as experimental or academic as his English/American contemporaries (Eliot, Pound, Cummings). You won’t find the linguistic fireworks or be dazzled by the multiple dead languages. Brecht’s poetry is very straightforward, journal-like and political. Many are little stories or comments on the news of the day written in ballad formats. It’s reminiscent of Carl Sandberg to me.

(Unlike early-to-mid 20th century English poetry which targets an elite, highly educated audience, Brecht is writing poems accessible to the masses. Art is not just for art's sake.)

But what a time for a journal-like poet to live! Seeing World War I, the rise of the Nazis (while being the target of their ire) and the fall of Germany into the abyss. Exile, escape to the U.S., return to Germany, the rise of the Iron Curtain.

Some of the exile poems are very moving. Overall, there is a high level of quality, though Brecht’s style is more straightforward and ballad-like, with a good mixture of free verse and formal rhyme. My favorites are “To those born after” and “Poor B.B.”

The socialistic poems are embarrassing in their naivete and ignorance. The irony burns brightly as Brecht complains of the Nazis killing people as Stalin starved or executed tens of millions of Russians. Fortunately, these are a small percentage of this massive book, and easily skipped. (By the way, how does one keep saying people should resist as one scampers out of the country to safety?)

And it is a big book. Huge even, with 1,200 pages of poems and notes. (The notes and introductions are very helpful.) Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell what Brecht had published, except for the casual note. Most of the poems are marked “uncollected.” I’m not even sure I know what that means. The overall quality is good, but one wishes they had focused a little more. Apparently this isn’t his complete poetry, but I can’t imagine there is a big audience in the English-speaking world for a massive 1,200-page book of Brecht poetry.

Overall, these seem like good translations – eminently readable with excellent supporting notes. I like my poetry to be a bit more adventurous linguistically, but many of these are wry, incisive and charming. If you like poetry about everyday activities in extraordinary times, you’ll like this.

[Sinan Öner]

One of the leaders of German Marxism in 20. Century was the Great Poet, Playwriter, Cinema Director, Novelist, Essayist, Journalist, Theatre Director, Writer Bertolt Brecht! Brecht's "The Collected Poems" contain his all poems' British translations since he published before 1. World War. Brecht lived in Democratic Germany after 2. World War, Brecht's life followed a Soviet European Marxism. Brecht's Marxism was one of the most developed thought in European intellectual atmosphere between 1. World War and 2. World War (between 1914 and 1939). Brecht wrote thousand poems which are published in different languages in the world, Brecht was one of the Greatest Poets in 20. Century.

[haryii · Rating 5 out of 5]

“一定要豁免起诉不公正：/很快它将冻死，因为它冷透了。/想想这暴风雪和这黑暗的混乱，/这响彻整个世界的痛苦的呼喊。” “要做到当你离开世界/不仅你是好的，而且留下/一个好世界。” “我时而老了，时而年轻/黎明时老了，夜来时年轻，/是一个回忆各种失望的小孩/和一个忘记自己名字的老人。/年轻时悲伤/后来悲伤/我何时会快乐？/最好早些。” “我总是想：最简单的话/已足够。当我说出事情是什么样子的/大家的心一定会被撕成碎片。/如果你不挺身捍卫自己你就会倒下去/这你肯定明白。” 在诗的沉默中隐约传来战斗的厮杀

[IJ]

Read the Chinese translation.
Poetry is also courageous.

[Pardis TD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Germany, Germany above all,
Above everything in the world,
Avenge us!
Take not modelled clay,
But give us back
Man!

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite poems turned out to be the Buckow Elegies of his final period, as they revealed the fractured sensibility of his picaresque sexual politics. Three stars.