Christian Morgenstern

For the German landscape painter, see Christian Ernst Bernhard Morgenstern.

Christian Morgenstern
Born	Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (1871-05-06)6 May 1871 Munich
Died	31 March 1914(1914-03-31) (aged 42) Meran
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	Poet Author

Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin, but spent much of his life traveling through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, primarily in a vain attempt to recover his health. His travels, though they failed to restore him to health, allowed him to meet many of the foremost literary and philosophical figures of his time in central Europe.

Morgenstern's poetry, much of which was inspired by English literary nonsense, is immensely popular, even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime. He made fun of scholasticism, e.g. literary criticism in "Drei Hasen", grammar in "Der Werwolf", narrow-mindedness in "Der Gaul", and symbolism in "Der Wasseresel". In "Scholastikerprobleme" he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle. Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910):

Weil, so schließt er messerscharf / Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf.

"For, he reasons pointedly / That which must not, can not be."

Embedded in his humorous poetry is a subtle metaphysical streak, as e.g. in "Vice Versa", (1905):

Ein Hase sitzt auf einer Wiese,
des Glaubens, niemand sähe diese.
Doch im Besitze eines Zeißes
betrachtet voll gehaltnen Fleißes
vom vis-à-vis gelegnen Berg
ein Mensch den kleinen Löffelzwerg.
Ihn aber blickt hinwiederum
ein Gott von fern an, mild und stumm.

"A rabbit in his meadow lair
Imagines none to see him there.
But aided by a looking lens
A man with eager diligence
Inspects the tiny long-eared gnome
From a convenient near-by dome.
Yet him surveys, or so we learn
A god from far off, mild and stern."

Gerolf Steiner's mock-scientific book about the fictitious animal order Rhinogradentia (1961), inspired by Morgenstern's nonsense poem Das Nasobēm, is testament to his enduring popularity.

Morgenstern was a member of the General Anthroposophical Society. Dr. Rudolf Steiner called him 'a true representative of Anthroposophy'.

Morgenstern died in 1914 of tuberculosis, which he had contracted from his mother, who died in 1881.

Gallows Songs

Morgenstern's best known works are the Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs, 1905), eight of which were used in a song cycle by Jan Koetsier for soprano and tuba, five in a song cycle by Siegfried Strohbach for male choir a cappella. This volume of humorous verses was followed by Palmström in 1910. Published posthumously were the important companion volumes Palma Kunkel in 1916, Der Gingganz in 1919, and Alle Galgenlieder in 1932. In German these works have gone through dozens of different editions and reprints and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. English translations include:

• The Gallows Songs. Christian Morgenstern's Galgenlieder, translated by Max Knight (University of California Press, 1964).
• Gallows Songs, translated by W.D. Snodgrass and Lore Segal (Michigan Press, 1967).
• Songs from the Gallows: Galgenlieder, translated by Walter Arndt (Yale University Press, 1993).
• Lullabies, Lyrics and Gallows Songs, translated by Anthea Bell with illustrations by Lisbeth Zwerger (North South Books, 1995).

A number of these poems were translated into English by Jerome Lettvin with explanations of Morgensterns wordplay methods and their relationship to Lewis Carroll's methods. These were published in a journal called The Fat Abbot in the Fall Winter 1962 edition, along with an essay illuminating subtle characteristics of the originals.

PROJECT REPORT To get this research undertook I bought a needle and the BOOK, and with the BOOK an old and hairy faintly starving dromedary. N.A.M., to help this thesis, gave, on loan, a standard Croesus. When the Croesus, missal-guided went to Heaven's gate and tried it, Peter spoke - "The Gospel proves a camel through a needle moves Sooner than we may admit a Rich man." (Christ, J., opus cit). Testing to confirm the Word, I loosed our camel, hunger-spurred, and motivated by a lure of buns behind the aperture, The subject, in a single try, squeezed grunting through the needle's eye; a graceless act. The camel crammed and Croesus muttered, "I'll be damned."	ONTOLOGY RECAPITULATES PHILOLOGY One night, a werewolf, having dined, left his wife to clean the cave and visited a scholar's grave asking, "How am I declined?" Whatever way the case was pressed the ghost could not decline his guest, but told the wolf (who'd been well-bred and crossed his paws before the dead), "The Iswolf, so we may commence, the Waswolf, simple past in tense, the Beenwolf, perfect; so construed, the Werewolf is subjunctive mood." The werewolf's teeth with thanks were bright, but, mitigating his delight, there rose the thought, how could one be hypostasized contingency? The ghost observed that few could live, if werewolves were indicative; whereat his guest perceived the role of Individual in the Whole. Condition contrary to fact, a single werewolf Being lacked but in his conjugation showed the full existence, a la mode.	DISINTERMENT Once there was a picket fence of interstitial excellence. An architect much liked its look; protected by the dark he took the interspaces from the slats and built a set of modern flats. The fence looked nothing as it should, since nothing twixt its pickets stood. This artefact soon fated it, the senate confiscated it, and marked the architect to go to Arctic - or Antarctico.
THE SHARK When Anthony addressed the fishes a simple shark became religious, adored the Host, denounced the Aryan, and turned, save Fridays, vegetarian. Seeds and weeds he bolted whole with faith as firm as amphibole, till vitals issued, overloaded, lapsed Pelagian and exploded. So littoral this revelation fish schools died of inspiration. The Saint, recalled to bless the lowly, said only: "Holy! Holy! Holy!"	THE MOONSHEEP The Moonsheep cropped the Furthest Clearing, Awaiting patiently the Shearing. The Moonsheep. The Moonsheep munched some grass and then Turned leisurely back to its Pen. The Moonsheep. Asleep, the Moonsheep dreamt he was The Universal Final Cause. The Moonsheep. Morning came. The sheep was dead. His Corpse was white, the Sun was red. The Moonsheep.	Σ Ξ MAN MET A Π MAN After many "if"s and "but"s, emendations, notes, and cuts, they bring their theory, complete, to lay, for Science, at his feet. But Science, sad to say it, he seldom heeds the laity - abstractedly he flips his hand, mutters "metaphysic" and bends himself again to start another curve on another chart. "Come," says Pitts, "his line is laid; the only points he'll miss, we've made."
THE AESTHETE When I sit, I sitting, tend to sit a seat with sense so fine that I can feel my sit-soul blend insensibly with seat's design. Seeking no support the while it assesses stools for style, leaving what the structure means for blind behinds of Philistines.	Zwei Trichter wandeln durch die Nacht. Durch ihres Rumpfs verengten Schacht fließt weißes Mondlicht still und heiter auf ihren Waldweg u. s. w.	Through darkest night two funnels go; and in their narrow necks below moonbeams gather to cast the better a light upon their path et c.

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The Night Song of the Fish

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by Christian Morgenstern

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Morgenstern as Translator

Christian Morgenstern was also an acclaimed translator, rendering into German various prominent works from Norwegian and French, including the dramas and poems of Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and August Strindberg.

Musical settings

Morgenstern's poems have been set to music by composers such as Erik Bergman (four Galgenlieder, Das große Lalula, Tapetenblume, Igel und Agel, Unter Zeiten), Hanns Eisler, Sofia Gubaidulina, Paul Graener, Friedrich Gulda, Paul Hindemith, Robert Kahn, Yrjö Kilpinen, Matyas Seiber (Two Madrigals and Three Morgenstern Lieder for soprano and clarinet), Rudi Spring (Galgenliederbuch nach Gedichten von Christian Morgenstern op. 19), Siegfried Strohbach (5 Galgenlieder) and Graham Waterhouse (Gruselett, Der Werwolf).

Essays, reviews and aphorisms

In his early years Christian Morgenstern wrote a considerable number of essays and reviews for various German periodicals. They have been collected together and published in Volume 6 (Kritische Schriften, 1987) of the German collected works of Morgenstern. His philosophical and mythical works were largely influenced by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the Austrian educationalist Rudolf Steiner (the originator of anthroposophy and the Waldorf school movement), and the Russian writers Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy.

Perhaps Morgenstern's most philosophical volume is a collection of aphorisms published posthumously in 1918 entitled Stufen: Eine Entwickelung in Aphorismen und Tagebuch-Notizen (Stages: A Development in Aphorisms and Diary Notes). It has given rise to a number of celebrated quotations. These include:

• "Home isn't where our house is, but wherever we are understood."
• "I shall excavate the strata of my soul."
• "I’m a man of limits: forever physically, emotionally, morally and artistically on the brink of plunging into the abyss. Yet I manage to keep my balance and possess presence of mind."
• "I bear no treasures within me. I only possess the power to transform much of what I touch into something of value. I have no depths, save my incessant desire for the depths." (Translated by David W. Wood)

Collected works

A complete edition of the works of Christian Morgenstern in German in nine volumes is currently being prepared by Verlag Urachhaus (Stuttgart) under the direction of Professor Reinhardt Habel. Volumes 1 and 2 comprise Morgenstern's lyrical writings and poems; volume 3: humoristic writings, including the complete Gallows Songs; volume 4: epic and theatrical writings; volume 5: collected aphorisms; volume 6: critical essays and reviews; volumes 7-9: complete correspondence. The volume titles in German are:

• Volume 1: Lyrik 1887–1905, ed. Martin Kiessig, 1988.
• Volume 2: Lyrik 1906–1914, ed. Martin Kiessig, 1992.
• Volume 3: Humoristische Lyrik, ed. Maurice Cureau, 1990.
• Volume 4: Episches und Dramatisches, eds. Reinhardt Habel and Ernst Kretschmer, 2001.
• Volume 5: Aphorismen, ed. Reinhardt Habel, 1987.
• Volume 6: Kritische Schriften, ed. Helmut Gumtau, 1987.
• Volume 7: Briefwechsel 1878–1903, ed. Katharina Breitner, 2005.
• Volume 8: Briefwechsel 1905–1908, ed. Katharina Breitner, 2011.
• Volume 9: Briefwechsel 1909–1914 (in preparation)

References

External links

• Works by Christian Morgenstern at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Christian Morgenstern at the Internet Archive
• Works by Christian Morgenstern at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Literature

• Michael Bauer: . Piper, München 1933 (completed by Margareta Morgenstern and Rudolf Meyer. With contributions by Friedrich Kayssler and others). (Reprint 1985, Urachhaus, Stuttgart).
• Martin Beheim-Schwarzbach: . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1964, ISBN 3-499-50097-3 (Rowohlts Monographien, Band 97)
• Maurice Cureau: . Peter Lang, Bern 1986.
• Herbert Gumtau: . Colloquium, Berlin 1971.
• Reinhardt Habel: Morgenstern, Christian. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0, S. 104–108 (Digitalisat).
• Reinhardt Habel: "Christian Morgenstern and Rudolf Steiner", http://www.academia.edu/7484899/Reinhardt_Habel._Christian_Morgenstern_and_Rudolf_Steiner
• Ueli Haldimann (Hrsg.): Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann und andere in Arosa – Texte und Bilder aus zwei Jahrhunderten, AS Verlag und Buchkonzept AG, Zürich 2001, pp. 65–71, ISBN 3-905111-67-5
• Anthony T. Wilson: Über die Galgenlieder Christian Morgensterns. Königshausen und Neumann (= Epistemata – Würzburger wissenschaftliche Schriften. Reihe Literaturwissenschaft, Bd. 448), 2003, ISBN 978-3-8260-2490-0.