Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Theodor Storm
Theodor Woldsen Storm (September 14, 1817 in Husum, Germany - July 4, 1888 in Hademarschen , Germany) studied and practiced law in northern Germany. He also wrote a number of stories, poems and novellas. His two most well-known works are the novellas Immensee (1849) [1] and Der Schimmelreiter (1888). Other published works include a volume of his poems (1852), the novella Pole Poppenspäler (1874) and the novella Aquis submersus (1877).
Analysis
Theodor Storm, like Friedrich Hebbel , is a child of the North Sea Plain, but while in Hebbel's verse there is hardly any direct reference to his native landscape, Storm again and again sings its chaste beauty - and while Hebbel could find a home away from his native heath, Storm clung to it with a jealous love.
He was born in Husum ('die graue Stadt am grauen Meer': 'the grizzly town at the grizzly sea') on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein of well-to-do parents. While still a student of law, he published a first volume of verse together with the brothers Tycho and Theodor Mommsen.
His favorite poets were Eichendorff and Mörike , and the influence of the former is plainly discernible even in Storm's later verse. Storm left his home in 1851 and did not return until 1864, after Schleswig-Holstein had become German.
Samples
| Die Stadt | The town by the sea |
|---|---|
| Am grauen Strand, am grauen Meer | On the gray beach, on the gray sea |
| Und seitab liegt die Stadt; | Lies a town off to the side; |
| Der Nebel drückt die Dächer schwer, | The fog envelopes the rooftops |
| Und durch die Stille braust das Meer | And the sea breaks the silence |
| Eintönig um die Stadt. | Its steady repetition surrounds the town. |
| Es rauscht kein Wald, es schlägt im Mai | No forest rustles, and no bird sings |
| Kein Vogel ohn' Unterlaß; | In May without interuption; |
| Die Wandergans mit hartem Schrei | The wandering goose with loud cry |
| Nur fliegt in Herbstesnacht vorbei, | Only flies away at the Harvest moon, |
| Am Strande weht das Gras. | On the beach the wind blows the grass. |
| Doch hängt mein ganzes Herz an dir, | Yes, my whole heart belongs to you, |
| Du graue Stadt am Meer; | You gray town by the sea; |
| Der Jugend Zauber für und für | The youthful charm will never die |
| Ruht lächelnd doch auf dir, auf dir, | It rests laughing with you, with you, |
| Du graue Stadt am Meer. | You gray town by the sea. |
(Analysis and original text of the poem from A Book of German Lyrics, ed. Friedrich Bruns, which is available in Project Gutenberg at http://ibiblio.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05/8glyr10.txt.)
External links
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