Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Experience and its articulation : the question of form in the poetry of Ernst Toller

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Jordan, James (1994) Experience and its articulation : the question of form in the poetry of Ernst Toller. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

[img]
Preview
PDF
WRAP_Theses_Jordan_1994.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (11Mb) | Preview
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1417032~S1

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Ernst Toller (1893-1939) wrote a substantial body of poetry which has received negligible critical attention. This thesis argues that the poetic styles he adopted enabled him not only to examine past experiences but also to evolve strategies for the challenges he faced. His early poetry (1908-1915) shows his attempts to come to terms with love and his enthusiasm to participate in the First World War. The poetry provided him with emotional models which were then revised in the light of experience. The early Expressionist poetry (1915-1919) documents his disillusionment with the war and furnishes insights into his growing political awareness. Toller then adopted the sonnet form (1919-1921), principally in order to express the vicissitudes of prison experience in a controlled manner, and this contributed to his adjustment to incarceration. Das Schwalbenbuch (1922-1924) combines this formal control with a growing sensitivity to the potential of Expressionist verse and delivers insights into his metaphysical thinking. Vormorgan (1924) summarises his experience of war, revolution and imprisonment, in verse of considerable richness and suggestivity, indicating the positive values he intended to apply to his life on release. After its publication, Toller practically ceased to write poetry except for a very few isolated examples, one of which ('Am Fluss, an unpublished poem) points to the possibility of a sixth and masterful poetic phase of which, apart from this one poem, there is no record. This study puts forward explanations for the apparent cessation of his poetry writing after 1924, arguing that his lyrical tendencies nonetheless found expression in his writing in other genres. The thesis provides an index of Toller's entire poetic production and a collection of the unpublished poems and those no longer easily accessible.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PT Germanic literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Toller, Ernst, 1893-1939
Official Date: 1994
Dates:
DateEvent
1994Submitted
Institution: University of Warwick
Theses Department: Department of German Studies
Thesis Type: PhD
Publication Status: Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: Lamb, Stephen
Extent: 270 leaves
Language: eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us