August Stramm

Stramm, August (Münster, 1874-1915, killed in action, Horodec, Russia), after studying at Berlin and Halle, became a postal official. In 1913 he began to contribute to the periodical Der Sturm. A reserve officer, he was recalled to the colours in 1914. His poetry, including notable war poems of 1914, is strikingly original in its terse formulation and original syntax, arrived at only after endless experiment. His plays are in the hectic Expressionist manner. Much of his work was published posthumously. It includes the poetry Du (1915), a volume of love poems, the war verse of Tropfblut (1919), edited by H. Walden, and the lengthy poems Die Menschheit (1917) and Weltwehe (1922); and the plays Rudimentär (1914), a naturalistic one-acter in Berlin dialect, Sancta Susanna (1914), which P. Hindemith adapted for his opera of this title in 1921, Die Haidebraut (1914), and, written for Der Sturm, Erwachen (1914), Kräfte (1915), and Geschehen (1915), the most abstract of his experimental compositions, and Die Unfruchtbaren (1916). Stramm's utter reliance on a skeleton of words and abrupt rhythm to convey inner tensions has remained of influence to future manipulators of language, including Arno Schmidt and Gerhard Rühm.

Gesammelte Dichtungen (2 vols.) appeared in 1920-1 and Das Werk, ed. R. Radrizzani, 1963, Die Dichtungen in 1990; Briefe an Nell und Herwarth Walden, ed. M. Trabitzsch, in 1988, and Briefe aus dem Krieg in 1988.

August Stramm

August Stramm (July 29, 1874 – September 1, 1915) was a German poet and playwright who is considered one of the first of the expressionists. He also served in the German Army and was killed in action during World War I.

He worked in the German Post Office Ministry as a young man and served his mandatory year of duty in the German Army in 1896–1897. After this, he travelled to the United States several times over the next few years before settling in Berlin. In 1912-1913, he wrote two plays, Sancta Susanna (which was subsequently used as a libretto for an early opera by Hindemith) and Die Haidebraut, the first of many to appear before the war.

Stramm was also a reservist in the German Army and had achieved the rank of Captain, the highest available to civilians. He was called to active duty when war broke out in August 1914. In January 1915, Stramm was awarded the Iron Cross (Second Class) for his service in France. Later that year, he was sent to the Eastern Front, where he served as Company Leader, later being promoted to Battalion Commander. He was killed in hand-to-hand combat in Horodec near Kobryn (today Belarus).

A collection of his poems, titled Dripping Blood, was published after his death in 1915.

See also

• war poet

External links

• August Stramm biography and poems
• Analysis of "Patrouille" (German)

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