What do you think?
Rate this book
Crisis
Crisis: Pages from a Diary
This collection of poems, written during the same period as Steppenwolf, was first published in 1928 in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Hesse's uneasiness about the degree of self-exposure in these quite untypical poems is evident in that the majority (and many of the best) were never reprinted during his lifetime. Astonishingly frank and raw at times, they reflect his effort to balance the constraints of his intellectual life with his longing for the free experiences of the senses. Together with Steppenwolf—the link with that novel is unmistakable—Crisis served as a catharsis for Hesse, bringing to its climax a difficult period of questioning and despair.
This collection of poems, written during the same period as Steppenwolf, was first published in 1928 in a limited edition of 1,000 copies. Hesse's uneasiness about the degree of self-exposure in these quite untypical poems is evident in that the majority (and many of the best) were never reprinted during his lifetime. Astonishingly frank and raw at times, they reflect his effort to balance the constraints of his intellectual life with his longing for the free experiences of the senses. Together with Steppenwolf—the link with that novel is unmistakable—Crisis served as a catharsis for Hesse, bringing to its climax a difficult period of questioning and despair.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
5 people are currently reading
183 people want to read
About the author
Hermann Hesse
1,796 books19.6k followersMany works, including
Siddhartha
(1922) and
Steppenwolf
(1927), of German-born Swiss writer Hermann Hesse concern the struggle of the individual to find wholeness and meaning in life; he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
Other best-known works of this poet, novelist, and painter include The Glass Bead Game , which, also known as Magister Ludi, explore a search of an individual for spirituality outside society.
In his time, Hesse was a popular and influential author in the German-speaking world; worldwide fame only came later. Young Germans desiring a different and more "natural" way of life at the time of great economic and technological progress in the country, received enthusiastically Peter Camenzind , first great novel of Hesse.
Throughout Germany, people named many schools. In 1964, people founded the Calwer Hermann-Hesse-Preis, awarded biennially, alternately to a German-language literary journal or to the translator of work of Hesse to a foreign language. The city of Karlsruhe, Germany, also associates a Hermann Hesse prize.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 14, 2013
One of my favorite collections of poems, even if the theme becomes a little bit redundant about halfway through. Definitely a must-read for anyone who is a fan of Steppenwolf.
January 8, 2024
I didn't relate to these poems much. They are mostly about drinking, romantic woes, aging, and death. I'm also not a huge fan of rhyme. I wonder how much was lost in translation in order to preserve the rhyme... I did really enjoy some bits though, especially the bits about nature.
My favorite part is the letter to his friends at the end. He knows that readers will be shocked at the contrast between this collection and his other works. He admits that he is having a sort of mid-life crisis. But he also explains that at this point in his life, he doesn't want to write about "pretty and pleasant things." He wants to be honest. He wants to explore the sensual side of life, which he has neglected, and write about his experiences honestly. So really, I have to say I admire his courage to publish such personal poems more than anything else. They are raw and honest, that's for sure.
My favorite part is the letter to his friends at the end. He knows that readers will be shocked at the contrast between this collection and his other works. He admits that he is having a sort of mid-life crisis. But he also explains that at this point in his life, he doesn't want to write about "pretty and pleasant things." He wants to be honest. He wants to explore the sensual side of life, which he has neglected, and write about his experiences honestly. So really, I have to say I admire his courage to publish such personal poems more than anything else. They are raw and honest, that's for sure.
October 20, 2022
These are stark, brutally honest dispatches from Hesse’s shadow, written concurrently with Steppenwolf, almost as poetic counterpoints to the themes illustrated in that novel. Whereas I found the character Steppenwolf to be insufferable (which perhaps was Hesse’s point), I found these intense, highly personal poems to be the most intimate view into Hesse’s soul I have yet encountered. Whereas his fiction comes off as overwrought and too steeped in allegory, these poems are direct and confessional. At times, they almost brought me to tears, which is extraordinarily rare for literature. This may have replaced Wandering as my favorite book by Hesse. In the Afterword, he practically apologizes to those who know him for revealing his shadow spaces, and even says that a handful were too dark to publish. I can only imagine what those were like, and I can only hope they still exist somewhere, perhaps awaiting publication down the line.
December 29, 2012
Pieces of Steppenwolf flesh. Grotesque, polar, blunt. No more need be said.
October 11, 2024
Herman Hesse explored the mind and body in reverse order. Unfortunately.
I was so moved by Hesse's Siddhartha, who searches out truth through both privation and satiation before gaining understanding. I thought, this author gets it. But then I read Steppenwolf and Crisis, which were written several years later, and their bleakness made my heart hurt. He wrote (in a letter, I believe) that after having explored the realms of the mind in his youth, he wanted to give free reign to his body. The dissolution that followed, as seen in Harry Haller in Steppenwolf and in his own life as revealed by the poems in Crisis, show the desperation and emptiness of living solely for the temporary pleasures of (night)life. Like Camus and so many others, he confronts the absurdity of life. But, whereas Camus rebelled against the meaninglessness, Harry Haller is told to find the humor and laugh in its face. It doesn't seem to help.
What is lacking in Crisis and Steppenwolf are meaningful connections. Simone de Beauvoir wrote that, "One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion." I am glad to have read what I did of Crisis, but I view it and Steppenwolf as little more than small side paths on an otherwise long journey.
I was so moved by Hesse's Siddhartha, who searches out truth through both privation and satiation before gaining understanding. I thought, this author gets it. But then I read Steppenwolf and Crisis, which were written several years later, and their bleakness made my heart hurt. He wrote (in a letter, I believe) that after having explored the realms of the mind in his youth, he wanted to give free reign to his body. The dissolution that followed, as seen in Harry Haller in Steppenwolf and in his own life as revealed by the poems in Crisis, show the desperation and emptiness of living solely for the temporary pleasures of (night)life. Like Camus and so many others, he confronts the absurdity of life. But, whereas Camus rebelled against the meaninglessness, Harry Haller is told to find the humor and laugh in its face. It doesn't seem to help.
What is lacking in Crisis and Steppenwolf are meaningful connections. Simone de Beauvoir wrote that, "One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion." I am glad to have read what I did of Crisis, but I view it and Steppenwolf as little more than small side paths on an otherwise long journey.
March 2, 2019
A nice collection of poems of Hesse. The theme of most of these poems was the necessity to return to nature after one has lived his life.
Although he wrote these Poems while writing Steppenwolf, I found the novel to have more depths and emotions than his poems in Crisis.
But Hesse will always be a Hesse. The letter to his friends for his 50th birthday was a nice personal touch.
Some parts I liked:
I could write books or fornicate;
But no, I prefer this shadowy state
Beyond all pleasure and distress.
Unborn, unshorn, in nothingness
I’ll watch the earthly pantomime
And laugh until the end of time.
Grieving over a wasted life,
Scraping the pits of memory,
Taking my only comfort from the thought
That, forced to live, we’ll have the luck to die.
Throughout my life, periods of intense sublimation, of asceticism aimed at enhanced spirituality, have alternated with periods of abandonment to naïve sensuality, to childlike folly and the dangers of madness. Every man has all this within him.
Although he wrote these Poems while writing Steppenwolf, I found the novel to have more depths and emotions than his poems in Crisis.
But Hesse will always be a Hesse. The letter to his friends for his 50th birthday was a nice personal touch.
Some parts I liked:
I could write books or fornicate;
But no, I prefer this shadowy state
Beyond all pleasure and distress.
Unborn, unshorn, in nothingness
I’ll watch the earthly pantomime
And laugh until the end of time.
Grieving over a wasted life,
Scraping the pits of memory,
Taking my only comfort from the thought
That, forced to live, we’ll have the luck to die.
Throughout my life, periods of intense sublimation, of asceticism aimed at enhanced spirituality, have alternated with periods of abandonment to naïve sensuality, to childlike folly and the dangers of madness. Every man has all this within him.
September 20, 2025
The Poet
Often at night I lie awake—
The world is an ache—
And then I play with words,
The good ones and bad ones,
The parched and fat ones,
And swim out into the gently mirroring sea….
The green crystal. And as colors come blowing
Over the sea, so dream-verses blow
Over my soul, now overflowing
With sensuousness, now stark with death and woe.”
Often at night I lie awake—
The world is an ache—
And then I play with words,
The good ones and bad ones,
The parched and fat ones,
And swim out into the gently mirroring sea….
The green crystal. And as colors come blowing
Over the sea, so dream-verses blow
Over my soul, now overflowing
With sensuousness, now stark with death and woe.”
July 19, 2020
Heavily burdened by withering age, worldy rejection, addiction, and disdain towards lights, Hesse eviscerated himself in such a raw fashion. Death and depression are on the both side of the coin with no chance of getting out alive.
May 12, 2018
Great anthology
May 4, 2022
Some of these poems are very sad and fatalistic but they are poems and poetry can be about anything. I'm sure there's much to be lost in translation. Enjoyed the author's postscript.
August 11, 2016
Anyone that has read any of Hesse’s novels knows that the theme of loneliness is one of his favorite one and this collection of some of his poems reflect just that. It is often said that a poem is the shortest novel and that is certainly true regarding some of Hesse’s poems. He reaches the soul of the reader in less than twenty verses and delivers a powerful message once there.
June 24, 2016
This is poetry at its best! Absolute best! I'm literally out of words to describe the unfathomable genius of Hermann Hesse! I wish I could live inside his mind, just for a day maybe! Poetic excellence which even metaphors will fail to describe!
April 11, 2012
Good reading for the truly miserable.
September 6, 2012
This is a different perspective from Hesse, an honest and raw confession of his less noble self.
August 17, 2018
Written about the same time as Steppenwolf these poems are dark and dreary but seem to relate to death, dying and at the same time longing for what once had been.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews