Oskar Loerke

Loerke, Oskar (Jungen, West Prussia, now Poland, 1884-1941, Berlin), came from a farming family, was educated in Graudenz (now Grudziadz), and studied philology, history, philosophy, and music in Berlin until 1907 when he received the Kleist Prize for his first story, Vineta (1907). After years of travel and writing he joined the S. Fischer Verlag where he worked as editor and, later, chief editor from 1917 until his death in 1941. From 1927 to 1933 he was secretary to the literary section of the Prussian Academy of Arts (see Akademien). Although he continued to write a number of prose works (Franz Pfinz, 1909; Der Turmbau, 1910; Das Goldbergwerk, 1919; Der Chimärenreiter, 1919; Der Prinz und der Tiger, 1920; and the novel Der Oger, 1921), he is best known for his lyric poetry which influenced (notably) W. Lehmann, G. Eich, and K. Krolow. Planned in seven volumes (‘Siebenbuch’), it proceeds from his deep feeling for nature and the depressing effect of city life, and reflects his perception of existence against the increasingly worsening political background of his time, which is summed up three months before his death in the opening part of his four-line ‘Leitspruch’ (‘Jedwedes blutgefügte Reich/Sinkt ein, dem Maulwurfshügel gleich’). But although he felt impelled to write against the regime's terror which he had witnessed at first hand, much of his poetry is imbued with his philosophical and spiritual preoccupation, marked by Eastern influences though not dependent on any. Sceptical in matters of belief, he used his art to contain the anguish of existence and make it meaningful (‘Jedwedes lichtgeborne Wort/Wirkt durch das Dunkel fort und fort’ read the closing lines of ‘Leitspruch’). One of the best-known examples is the poem ‘Pansmusik’. All his major themes form a coherent unit and are characterized by their graphic presentation in rhymed, rhythmic verse; the theme of suffering recurs in many variations, with exceptionally imaginative intensity in ‘Leidspiegelung’, and, in the early phase of the National Socialist regime, with poetic concealment in the poem ‘Der Silberdistelwald’, and in ‘Genesungsheim’, a starkly direct protest against brute force whose victims linger remote from public sight. The seven books are Die Wanderschaft (1911), Gedichte (1916, reissued as Pansmusik, 1929), Die heimliche Stadt (1921), Der längste Tag (1926), Atem der Erde (1930), Der Silberdistelwald (1934), and Der Wald der Welt (1936). A posthumous volume, Die Abschiedshand. Letzte Gedichte (1949), was edited by his friend H. Kasack who described Loerke's gentle, unassertive humanity and, with P. Suhrkamp, honoured his achievement as a poet and his service to literature. Loerke, who played the organ, published an essay on Bach (Das unsichtbare Reich, 1934) and a monograph on Bruckner (1938). Kasack edited his diaries, Tagebücher 1903-1939 (1955), Reden und kleinere Aufsätze (1959), and reviews, Der Bücherkarren. Besprechungen im Berliner ‘Börsen-Courir’ 1920-1928 (with R. Tgahrt, 1965). Gedichte und Prosa (2 vols.), ed. P. Suhrkamp, appeared in 1958. Other publications include Literarische Aufsätze aus der ‘Neuen Rundschau’ (1909-1941), ed. R. Tgahrt (1967), and the collection Die Gedichte, ed. P. Suhrkamp and revised by R. Tgahrt in 1984.