Gedankenlyrik

Gedankenlyrik, term frequently used in writings on German literature for poetry which has as its theme an idea rather than an emotional experience, an impression, or a description. There is no equivalent English term, for ‘philosophical poetry’ suggests something too systematic and comprehensive, and ‘metaphysical poetry’ in English literature is limited to a specific period, but Wordsworth's ‘Ode to Duty’ might serve as a typical example. German examples may be found in the sonnets of Gryphius, the epigrams of Angelus Silesius and Logau, and in many more recent poets: most obviously in Schiller, but also in some of Goethe's poems, in Hölderlin, Hebbel, George, and Rilke, and others.

In all good Gedankenlyrik image, eloquence, and intensity transfigure the idea. A more pedestrian kind of Gedankenlyrik is found in the early and mid-18th c., in, for example, Brockes and certain poems of Klopstock. The gradations are infinite, and no hard and fast lines can be drawn.