"Bewahrer des Konkreten": The poetic practice of Wilhelm Lehmann (1882-1968)

Wilhelm Lehmann (1882-1968), one of the dominant figures in German poetry in the immediate postwar period, has been long recognized as the author of innovative nature poems. Unfortunately, the recognition has not gone much further. This study endeavors to expand the understanding of Lehmann's accomplishment, and, in order to do so, it approaches his work as poetry--rather than as nature poetry. The fact that Lehmann remained in Germany, kept his teaching position, and was able to continue publishing during the National Socialist reign has cast a dark shadow over his career. A study of Lehmann's journals from the 1930s and an analysis of his relationships with Werner Kraft and Willy Haas expose character traits which caused him to conduct himself as he did. The poetry is first approached through an investigation of Lehmann's conception of language, which was formed in part by his training as philologist. His focus on the etymology of words, in particular, on the origins of plant and bird names, helped him to develop an understanding of language which led him to use words as means to relate as closely as possible to things, natural phenomena in particular. Lehmann worked within a highly refined relationship to language while maintaining his devotion to the world he observed. The idea that language is the world once again did not mean for Lehmann that the poet is free to divorce himself from the external, visible world. Lehmann strives to avoid the feeling of inhibition experienced when one lacks the words with which to talk about what one sees. The cultivation of the ability to react to the observed in poetry is referred to in this study as poetic practice. Lehmann created finely crafted poetic forms which can be seen as formal gestures. When Lehmann looks to nature, what he sees is a cycle of form-taking followed by the disintegration of form. Careful analysis of Lehmann's poetic oeuvre shows that the desire to create artistic form is the driving force behind his poetry.