Theodor Storm
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Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (September 14, 1817 in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, then Danish, today in Germany - July 4, 1888 in Hademarschen, Germany) studied and practiced law in Schleswig-Holstein and - emigrated under Danish rule - in Thuringia. 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).
[edit] 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 grey town by the grey 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 Joseph von Eichendorff and Eduard 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.
[edit] Samples
| Die Stadt | The town |
|---|---|
| Am grauen Strand, am grauen Meer | By the gray shore, by the gray sea |
| Und seitab liegt die Stadt; | - And close by lies the town - |
| Der Nebel drückt die Dächer schwer, | The fog rests heavy round the roofs |
| Und durch die Stille braust das Meer | And through the silence roars the sea |
| Eintönig um die Stadt. | Monotonously round the town. |
| Es rauscht kein Wald, es schlägt im Mai | No forest murmurs, and no bird sings |
| Kein Vogel ohn' Unterlaß; | Unceasingly in May; |
| Die Wandergans mit hartem Schrei | The wand'ring goose with raucous cry |
| Nur fliegt in Herbstesnacht vorbei, | On autumn nights just passes by, |
| Am Strande weht das Gras. | On the shoreline waves the grass. |
| Doch hängt mein ganzes Herz an dir, | Yet all my heart remains with you, |
| Du graue Stadt am Meer; | O gray town by the sea; |
| Der Jugend Zauber für und für | Youth's magic ever and a day |
| Ruht lächelnd doch auf dir, auf dir, | Rests smiling still on you, on you, |
| Du graue Stadt am Meer. | O 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.)
