The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn`s lyric.

The montage-technique
in Gottfried Benn’s lyric.
by M . R . Townson
In his theoretical writings Benn uses the term ‘M ontage’ in a general and
a more particular sense.
In its more general sense the word applies to the poet’s formal activity,
the joining of words into a meaningful structure, and in this sense Benn uses
montage as part of his definition of the ‘absolute poem ’ in Probleme der
Lyrik:
das G edicht aus W orten, i de Sie faszinierend m ontieren.1
The only im portant thing in this case is the actual use of the word
montieren: the process it describes is one that is common to all poets, although
the stress which Benn places on it and the terms in which he describes it are
perhaps more peculiar to him than to others.
The verb montieren and its noun M ontage are usually used in a technical
sense: they are applied, for example, to the final assembly process in a factory.
Therefore the use of the word montieren or M ontage gives the impression
of the poet as a craftsman or a man whose activity is comparable to that of
the experimental scientist.2
The second, poetic, definition of the word is based on an explicit statement
of Benn’s about M ontagekunst and leads on to a certain extent from the
poetic and technical aspects stated above. In Doppelleben Benn states:
Der Stil der Zukunft wird der Roboterstil sein, M ontagekunst . . . D iese Technik
selbst ist das Problem .3
1. GW I, 524
2. cf. GW I, 389
3. BENN Gesammelte Werke, ed. D. Wellershoff (Wiesbaden, 1959-61) [GW] 1, 524
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn’s lyric
155
and then earries on to State what he means by Montagekunst:
Der M ensch muss neu zusam m engesetzt werden aus Redensarten, Sprichwortern,
sinnlosen Beziigen, aus Spitzfindigkeiten, breit basiert — : Ein M ensch in Anfiihrungsstrichen . . . Einfålle werden eingeschlagen w ie Någel und daran Suiten
aufgehångt.4
An analogy can be drawn here between this poetic teehnique and the field
of technology. Technical assembly deals with pre-formed parts of different
types gathered from a variety of sources: often the parts are obtained from
outside the factory where the actual finished article is produced. With the
poetic montage teehnique the poet takes pre-formed parts. e.g. quotations,
expressions, words from a wide variety of sources and fuses them into an
organic whole. The important difference between the poetic and the technological process is that in the latter the parts are specifically made with the
end product in view whereas in the former they are not, although they are,
of course, chosen to fulfil a specific purpose.
The poet must, therefore, be able to fit together varied elements, and it
is here that his formal prowess displays itself. It does not matter what
material he uses, it is how he uses it that is important:
wenn der M ann danach ist, dann kann der erste Vers aus dem K ursbuch sein
und der zweite eine G esangbuchstrophe und der dritte ein M ikoschwitz und das
G anze ist doch ein G edicht.5
It is im portant to note here how the various parts of the hypothetical poem
would not normally have anything to do with each other, but the poet is not
bound by traditional categories: as the ‘R adardenker’, used as a symbol for
the poet, say s in Die Stim m e hint er dem Vor hang: “Ich mache meine eigene
Kausalitåt.” 6
It is montage in its more narrow sense of M ontagekunst that is of more
interest here, for it shows how the poet makes his language transcend normal
categories and boundaries and forms an arbitrary system where everything
belongs together that he wants to belong together.
There are, however, difficulties in limiting the application of the concept
to Benn’s lyric, as he draws his language from such a wide range of spheres
anyway — e.g. mythology, religion, the natural sciences, geography, art,
history, technology, medicine, anthropology — and often uses words from
4. GW IV, 163f
5. GW IV, 164
6. GW II, 436
156
M. R. Townson
different subjeets together in the same poem. The limitation must of necessity
be a somewhat arbitrary one: only those instances will be taken into account
where there is a juxtaposition or interposition of expressions or single words
the reason for which is not immediately obvious or which does not seem
consequent on a literal plane. An image which is to be understood by the
intellect rather than the imagination qualifies for the title of montage.
This limitation can best be shown by taking two examples of a mythical
reference, of which one could be regarded as montage.
The third stanza of the poem Trunkene Flut contains images of the end
of life: the idea is expressed inter alia by means of a mythical illustration:
21
die Wålder nieder,
die H orner leer,
zu Gråbern wieder
steigt D em eter.7
Demeter is the Greek Goddess of Life, and her departure marks the end
of life, particularly as her departure is to the grave. This is a quite straightforward illustration of the point that Benn is trying to make, and does not
qualify as an instance of montage.
In the fourth stanza of Die Dånin there is a juxtaposition of classical
legend and Christianity which is a great deal more complicated:
noch um die G olgathascheite
30
schlingt sich das goldene V lies.8
Interesting here first of all is the use of the neologism ‘Golgathascheite’.
A ‘Scheit’ is a common, rough piece of wood, such as one might use on a
fire: the word ‘Golgathascheite’ obviously refers to Christ’s cross on Calvary,
but by using a low, ‘Scheite’, to describe it, Benn robs the Cross of the
deeper significance it possesses for a Christian. The relationship between
‘Golgathascheite’ (a Christian image) and ‘das goldene Vlies’ (a mythological
image) becomes clear if one turns to Pindar’s account of the Jason legend in
his fourth Pythic Ode. In this ode Jason sails off with the Argonauts to
recapture the Golden Fleece and thus free the Aolides from the curse which
has been upon them since the death of Phrixos. The legend deals therefore
with the lifting of a curse; Christianity is also concerned with the removal of
a curse, the curse of original sin which lies on the whole of mankind and
7. GW III, 60
8. GW III, 104
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn s lyric
157
which was removed by Christ’s death on the Cross. In Benn’s image, however,
the Golden Fleece, used as the symbol of freedom from a curse, is still
entwined around the Cross. The use of the word ‘noch’ indicates that the
Fleece has not yet been regained, and so the curse still rests on the place which
Christians regard as the place of their salvation. The whole tone of the couplet is, therefore, one of failure.
The interplay here of myth and Christianity, coupled with the coining of
a neologism, definitely stamps these two lines as an instance of montage, for
the reader here is no longer l'aced just with a simple pictorial illustration, as
was the case in the previous example, but with a complex picture which
appeals more to the intellect than to the imagination.
One final example of what montage is not will suffice to complete this
provisional definition. It was stated that montage is inter alia the juxtaposition
of words taken from varying spheres: this does not mean, of course, that every
series of words not all taken from the same subject qualifies as montage.
Such a series can just be a list of various features used in a description or
statement, as is the case at the beginning of Der Sanger:
Keim e, Begriffsgenesen,
Broadways, Azim ut,
Turf- und N ebelw esen
mischt der Sanger im Blut.9
The purpose of this juxtaposition is immediately obvious: it is designed to
show the wide range from which the poet draws his vocabulary but not how
he reconciles the various terms with each other.
There are two main questions which must be asked about Benn’s use of
montage.
The first questions is why does Benn use this teehnique, and secondly
how does he use it, how does the juxtaposition of the various elements lead to
a complete picture? Is montage a gimmick, a device used purely for its own
sake, or does it serve a poetic purpose?
It is possible to distinguish three categories of montage in Benn’s lyric;
firstly there is collage, secondly the mixing of vocabulary taken from different
spheres and thirdly the introduction of foreign words. It must be stressed that
these categories are by no means mutually exclusive, for example, the first
9. G W III, 59
158
M . R. Townson
can cover both the second and the third, and the second definitely includes
the third.
a) Collage
Strictly speaking, collage is a term taken from the pictorial arts. and it can
be regarded as the pictorial equivalent of montage. In the pictorial arts it
describes a teehnique whereby the artist takes various pre-formed objects and
substances — e.g. cuttings from newspapers, sections of other pictures, etc.,
and sticks them together in some kind of arrangement to form an original
composition. In its application to poetry the word is taken here to describe a
similar process whereby the poet takes not single words, expressions or concepts and joins them together, as was the case in the above example from
Die Dånin, but varied episodes, facts and the description of complete events
from a variety of sources which are in some way relevant to the central
theme of the poem, and joins these together, the only link between them
often being simply their relevance to the central subject or in the associations
which the poet attaches to them. The teehnique can usually only be observed
to its full extent by considering the whole of the poem in which it is used,
unlike the second and third categories of montage, which can often be amply
demonstrated using only one or two lines, although examples of collage can
be shown which cover only a section of a poem.
The first example it is proposed to examine is the poem 1886 from
D oppelleben.10 Under the title Benn gives an explanation of the poem, or
rather of the title: “mein Geburtsjahr — was schrieben damals die Zeitungen,
wie sah es aus?” The poem is therefore intended to give a picture of the world
in 1886, which, if one is expecting a reasonably composite chronicle, is precisely what it does not do. It consists of a series of random facts and events
joined together piece-meal. To start with the poem is quite consequent: each
of the first three stanzas is devoted entirely to a particular theme. The first
stanza deals with the seasons and the weather, a reasonable enough start for a
chronicler, but then the whole of the second stanza (eleven lines) is taken up
with an account of a tragedy by Paul Heyse, the cultural signifance of which
does not really seem to merit such detailed treatment. The third stanza contains three random political events, after which the fourth presents a mixture
of sport and dog-shows. Then the fifth stanza deals with the visits of Turgen10. G W IV , 150ff
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn’s lyric
159
jew to the sisters Viardot in Baden-Baden, and the sixth oceupies itself with
archæological finds and the extinction of a bird in Hawaii. Stanza 7 contains
a marvellous mixture of attempts to remove foreign words from German.
trade union activity, politics (although nothing of any great significance) and
publishing. Following upon this there is a section on newspapers. made up
of dram a reviews, scandal and readers’ letters, which in its turn is succeeded
by a random selection of birth announcements, and the whole poem is concluded by a snippet of financial information.
Altogether the poem presents nearly forty events arranged for the most
part in an arbitrary manner, and at the end one is not really left any the
wiser about the year 1886 than one was at the beginning of the poem: most
of the information given is of dubious significance, and any piece of news
which might be important has its importance reduced by being placed in a
banal context.
This being the case, what is the reason for Benn’s use of the collage
teehnique? It is suggested that, particularly in view of the material Benn has
employed, his intention was firstly to show that the year 1886 was of no particular importance and, by extension from this, to show further what little
regard he had for formal history anyway.
This impression is conveyed by two means: firstly by the actual choice of
material employed and secondly by the style and structure of the poem, which
in this case makes no attempt to form any kind of meaningful pattern or give
an overall picture. Thus the style of the poem, particularly the fragmentation
of the material, plays a large part in carrying the idea which the poet wishes
to present.
A somewhat similar example as far as structural teehnique is concerned
is found in the poem St. Petershurg — M itte des Jahrhunderts z11 once again
the poem is built up of isolated episodes which of themselves do not form
a complete impression, but in this case a more complete picture is given of
the Imperial Russian Capital in the nineteenth century than was given of the
year 1886 in the previous example, and this is achieved to a large extent by
the choice of material. The first stanza presents the variety of religious forms
present in the Capital, thus giving an insight into the metaphysical basis of the
age, and then the second stanza evokes the pomp and ceremony of Imperial
Russia. The third, fourth and fifth stanzas present the Russian musical tradi11. G W III, 219f£
160
M . R. Townson
tion and cast some light on the social life of the times. Finally in the sixth
and seventh stanzas comes the reverse side of the coin, the demi-monde and
the underworld. This poem achieves its effect chiefly by evoking atmosphere:
there is hardly any normal, straightforward description, and the material is
often fragmentary and in a certain sense disjointed, but the isolated elements
point to something significant or typical, they are more central to the theme,
and thus a more complete picture can be built up. The unity of the picture is
strengthened by having the first two lines of the poem repeated at the end,
thus forming a frame around the composition. This poem is an example of
the Radardenker -teehnique in action,12 isolated elements being gathered
together in a frame and arranged in such a way that they give a total impression.
A further work that has certain features in common with the previous
two examples is the poem A ussenminister .13 Not only does it share the same
theme — historical and political — but it is constructed in much the same
way by having various fragments of material joined together.
The first stanza contains a quotation from Hamlet and the King’s toast
to Hamlet before the fatal duel. Then comes the comment: “wunderbarer
Aufzug, / doch die Degenspitze vergiftet” (11. 5/6). The intention of this is
to show the dualism of politics, on one side the majestic exterior, and on the
other treachery and intrigue. This stanza sets the tone of the whole poem.
The second stanza shows the exterior of the Foreign Minister:
8
Zitate zur Hand, Bonm ots in der Kiepe,
hier kiihl. dort chaleureux, Peace and G oodw ill.
This theme is carried over to the third stanza, which deals with the science
of dealing with parliaments:
13
das ist keineswegs Schaumschlågerei,
hat M ethode wie Sanskrit oder Kernphysik
and with the necessity for the politician to have a strong character. Throughout the poem one has the impression that the Foreign Minister himself is
talking most of the time, and that in this stanza in particular there is an
attempt at self-justification, for example in the comparison between political
showmanship and nuclear physics. On the other hand the strength of charac­
ter which the Foreign Minister claims for himself is debased by its being
12. ref. GW II, 436
13. GW III, 288ff
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn s lyric
161
called “moralischer Sex-Appeal” (1. 19) — which is presumably a comment
on Benn’s part. In the middle of the third stanza there is a change to a more
philisophical plane to discuss the idea of the State, but this is introduced in a
very off-hand fashion and is dismissed with two short quotations from Plato
and Keynes. Then there is another change of direction to describe a typical
diplomat’s career:
26
erst Oberprasident, dann kleiner Balkanposten,
schliesslich Chef,
dann ein neues Revirem ent,
und man geht auf seine Gliter
which, when reduced to these terms, does not appear particularly impressive.
These lines are followed by an account of the dangers and uncertainties
of the diplomat’s life: this is done partly by a reference to the Roman oracles,
which is intended to show that the science of diplomacy has not changed
much over the centuries. The poem continues in this manner, going from one
subject to the next without any clear thread running through the poem. The
collage of material is matched by the wide variety of language used. An
analysis of the second stanza will serve to illustrate both the variety of m a­
terial and the variety of language employed:
»Iswolski lachte.«
Zitate zur Hand, Bonm ots in der K iepe,
hier kiihl, dort chaleureux, Peace and G oodw ill,
10
lieber m al eine F lo te zuviel,
die Shake-hands W ittes in Portsm outh (1905)
waren Rekord, aber der Friede wurde giinstiger.
The stanza consists of a quotation, a comment on quotations, an indication
of how the Foreign Minister should behave and act, a musical allusion and
finally a reference to the negotiations of 1905 for ending the Russo-Japanese
W ar in which the Russian statesman Count Sergyey Yulievich Witte
presumably toolc part. The stanza has one underlying theme, but this is
expressed in a variety of styles. The first point to notice is that there is no
strong syntactical bond holding the sentence together: it stays together be­
cause Benn has put in together in this way and no other. The quotation of
the first line is commented and the comment expanded using a foreign word.
A Kiepe is a dosser, or basket carried on the back, and the impression given
is that the Minister has a ready supply of Bonm ots which he distributes as
from a basket at every necessary opportunity without there being any sin-
162
M . R. Townson
cerity behind them. The third line contains four foreign words, one French
and three English which make up over half the line: the mixture of foreign
and German words is made more noticeable by the faet that the French
word is used in contrast to the German in “hier kuhl, dort chaleureux”. The
English words form a set expression, which might have something of the
character of a cliché, and tnus point to the lack of sincerity behind them.
The fourth line contains a musical image, and the historical reference in
lines 5 and 6 once again includes a foreign word.
The overall impression given by the poem is one of great and diverse
activity (suggested by the wide variety of elements making up the poem)
which in reality does not amount to much: this is shown particularly in the
last stanza where a top-level conference deals with a relatively banal subject
(“61- und Pipelinef ragen”) and the only feature considered worth mentioning
about the foreign ministers themselves is their clothes. The Aussenminister
is constantly flitting from one thing to another, but there is no depth in his
activity, no discipline and conscious formation; this is suggested inter alia by
the very free verse structure and the sloppiness of the style, and the underlying idea of the lack of discipline is conveyed to a very large extent by the
style and structure of the poem which lacks consistency and uniformity.
A work similar in teehnique to both 1886 and St. Petersburg is the poem
Kleiner K ulturspiegelM This poem is intended to give a picture of the cultural scene (using the word ‘culture’ in its wider sense of civilization, although
the work deals mainly with art of one kind or another) at the time of its
composition. The basic structure is similar to that of the previous examples:
various facts and pieces of information are joined together, and in this case
the resultant picture is quite a composite one, its fulness coming to a certain
extent from the associations one can attach to the various parts: although the
items included are fragmentary, they are central and far more representative
than those of 1886. The ideas of the first stanza are built up on lines 1 and
6 (“Die Zeitalter wechseln langsam” and “Einiges bleibt schemenhaft”), the
succeeding lines in each case bringing illustrations of the main point in a very
compact, note-like style.
The second stanza, compounded of the Ides of March and Leonidas,
King of Sparta, continues with the principle idea of the first stanza and deals
with political change: there is also (in parentheses) a comment by the poet.
14. G W III, 474f
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn s lyric
163
Stanza 3 deals superfieially with the diffieulty of finding a good barber,
but on a deeper level it reflects the decline of personal service and the change
in the structure of society, this being suggested by the associations one can
attach to the basic statement.
Stanza 4 has as its theme Lehensangst, which is currently the favourite
European disease:
25
Verteidigen w ill sich das Abendland nicht m ehr —
Angst will es haben, gew orfen will es sein.
This stanza also shows well the diversity of material used in the poem: in
the first three lines are references to both Teutonic and Greek myth, where
two different world-concepts are connected in one train of thought.
In the next stanza are given the new criteria for the age, the new represen­
tative achievements:
27
Ein Schlager von Rang ist mehr 1950
als fiinfhundert Seiten Kulturkrise
and the decline of old forms is displayed:
Im K ino, w o man H ut und M antel mitnehm en kann,
30
ist mehr Feuerwasser als auf dem Kothurn
und ohne die låstige Pause.
It is significant here that Benn uses the Greek word Kothurn, stressing the
great age and tradition of the theatre in contrast to the modern phenomenon
of the cinema. Shown here too is a change in social conventions.
Then, as if by the way, comes a statement on a new race of men with 66
chromosomes instead of the usual 46: the idea of a new order is then carried
on in the next stanza by a reflection on the new order in Germany, in which
Benn perhaps laments to a certain extent the decline in his country’s fortunes
(this is shown particularly by the last line of the stanza “ein Kaninchenfell
als Reichsflagge”)- The poem closes with a personal observation by the poet.
The poem is marked firstly by the comprehensiveness of its contents,
which is achieved by the poet’s representative choice of material, even though
the actual material presented is fragmentary and varied, and secondly, in
contrast to the previous example, by the sobriety and uniformity of the lan­
guage, which of course helps to mould the varied elements into a single and
complete whole. The poem is composed of complete sentences, and, on the
whole, the choice of vocabulary is not so obscure as to render comprehension
difficult. This poem serves to show that montage, or collage, does not neces-
164
M . R . Townson
sarily require a Wholesale reversal of eonventional linguistic patterns even
though it does aim at building a new syntax.
Quite different, on the other hand, is a poem such as Chaos .15 As the
title might already lead one to suspect, this poem presents a complete disinte­
gration of normal syntactic structure and also of logical thought patterns. It is
impossible to observe any unity behind the poem, whether of theme or syn­
tactic structure. In the forty lines of the poem there are only eleven main verbs,
three of which are imperatives, of which two are joined together in one
phrase, and one of which is in a question. As for the others, none of the
thoughts they express is logically developed — the sentences in which they
are placed remain fragmentary. They often have no connexion with the preceding or succeeding sentence; in one particular section a sentence is even
split by the insertion of the first half of a parallel sentence, which in its turn
is split by the second half of the original sentence:
lobe — : die Hirne stiimmeln
leck im Sursumscharnier,
15
den Herrn — : die H irne liimmeln
Leichenw achs, Adipocire.
This section also shows the variety of vocabulary used in the poem. “Lobe
den H errn” and ‘Sursum’ come from the liturgical sector, ‘Scharnier’ comes
from joinery, ‘stiimmeln’ is a neologism, presumably to rhyme with the
colloquial ‘liimmeln’, and ‘Adipocire’ is the French term for the pathological
‘Leichenwachs’.
The whole poem is composed of fragmentary scraps, and this is shown
for instance by the third stanza:
Bruch. G onorrhoische Schwarten
m achen das W eltgericht:
W aterloo: Bonaparten
20
passte der Sattel nicht —
Frass, Suff, G ifte und G ase —
wer kennte G ottes Z iel
anders als: Ausgang der Blase
erektil?
Although the stanza has one main theme, namely m an’s basic urges and the
importance attached to trivial things, the thought is developed in an arbitrary
15. G W III, 82f
The montage-technique in G ottfried Benn s lyric
165
and haphazard manner: for example, the insertion about Napoleon at Waterloo illustrates the importance of trivial things, but still does not really fit into
the thought pattern of the sentence and does not lead on to the list of man’s
basic needs and the circumlocution for the sexual urge which follow. Again,
in the first stanza there is a recognizable theme, that of chaos and death, but
the diversest elements are used to express it. There is a mixture of foreign
words (‘M imikry’, ‘R un’) antique references (‘M ilet’) and geological and
medical expressions (‘M arm or’, ‘Travertine’, and ‘hippokraticher Schein’).
Despite the chaotic style and arrangement of material, however, this poem
fits into a strict formal pattern. It is composed of four eight-line stanzas, the
stanzas being cross-rhymed. In addition a frame is set round the poem by the
final four lines being a slight variation on the first four lines, and sharing the
same rhyme scheme. Although there is a dissolution of logical thought and
speech patterns the poem is subjected to the poetic discipline of rhyme and
consistent stanza structure. The collage teehnique is not, therefore, as arbitrary and haphazard as it might seem, but does in faet still require discipline
on the part of the artist. Furthermore, there is a system of order and form
which can survive and contain a collapse of conventional syntax.
One poem by Benn is almost self-confessedly a piece of collage, and that
is “Der Broadway singt und tan zt”,16 which is sub-titled Eine magnifique
Reportage!. Already in the title there are various elements of montage: the
quotation marks round the title point to its having been lifted from somewhere else, thus it is a pre-fabricated element: in the sub-title there is a mix­
ture of the German indefinite article and a French adjective and noun.
The typographical lay-out of the first four stanzas underlines the autonomy of each individual stanza and thus strengthens the idea of the poem as a
number of already complete parts: Benn actually numbers his stanzas here
for the only time in his work; by doing so he stresses the idea of the poem
as a list or series and not as an organic whole with all the stanzas closely
interrelated. The only connexion between the first four stanzas is their relevance to the title of the poem, but not necessarily to each other, and their
contrast with the fifth stanza.
The subject of the poem, as is obvious from the title, is the entertainment-scene on Broadway. The treatment consists of a discussion of four
shows; an opera (Verdi’s M asked Ball), a serious drama, a melodrama and a
16. G W III, 305f
M. R. Townson
166
large-scale musical. There is no stated link between these various shows, but
the concept of pure entertainment, although this word is not actually used by
Benn, is central to the whole poem. Any attempt to use the theatre for anything except pure entertainment is rejected by the poet, as can be seen from
the treatment of the ‘serious drama’ in the second stanza and from the contrast between the first four stanzas and the fifth stanza (which, incidentally,
is not numbered, thus stressing its difference) which deals with the metaphy­
sical cultural scene in Europe. With regard to the last stanza it is interesting
to note how, in the contrast, the first four stanzas are grouped together as
one single unit, despite their variety and actual lack of explicit connexion.
There is a connexion between the first four stanzas which arises solely from
the structure of the poem and not by the application of an external criterion.
The diversity of the first four stanzas is reflected also by their style and
internal structure. The most noticeable stylistic feature of these stanzas is the
frequent insertion of quotations — eight and a half of the twenty lines are
enclosed in inverted commas. These quotations can be interpreted as extracts
from newspaper reviews, theatre programmes, publicity hand-outs, etc. They
are, however, incorporated into the structure of the individual sentence, thus
leading to a more closely-knit construction as can be seen in an extract from
the third stanza:
11
3) Kaiserinmutter und Prinzessin Irina:
ein »mit fast unertråglicher innerer (!) Spannung
geladenes Duell«,
The constant use of quotations strengthens the feeling that the poem is a
report drawing its information from a variety of sources. From the formal
point of view, quotations are the most obvious type of pre-formed part, and
thus the montage structure of the poem is strongly stressed. The second important stylistic characteristic takes the form of comments inserted by the
poet which help break up the continuity of the description. These comments
occur in parentheses at the end of the second, third and fourth stanzas and
throughout the fifth stanza where the contrast between the two cultures on
the two sides of the Atlantic is pointed. The comments are either critical or
sceptical and make use of colloquial expressions, for example at the end of
the third stanza: “(wenn das nicht prima ist)” and then again right at the end
of the poem with “Kinder! Kinder!” a common German expression of despair or near-despair.
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn s lyric
167
The insertion of quotations and parentheses can be observed well in the
second stanza, which also shows the diversity of elements employed:
10
2) Vorfålle, dramatisiert: alles Kompromissier,
nur bei einem einzigen der Versuch, »gegen die Miihle
der Mehrheitsmeinung«
»die Wahrheit an den Tag zu bringen«
(grossartig — aber siehe Pilatus).
More than half the reporting section consists of quotations, and although
the lines 7 to 9 carry on without a break from each other, the quotation is
divided into two quotations, thus leading to a further fragmentation of the
typographical picture and increasing the number of pre-fabricated elements
used. The final line of the stanza brings the poet’s somewhat sceptical com­
ment, and includes a further new element in the form of a historical reference.
The information given in the report is by no means complete or presented
in an ordered sequence: for example only in the first stanza is the name given
of the work under discussion, and in the third stanza nothing is said about
the plot or action of the play. There is therefore a certain fragmentation apparent in the poem, but once again the choice of material is such that the
main impression the poet wishes to convey is in faet conveyed. This can be
shown by a brief analysis of the fourth stanza:
20
4) Noah und seine Familie — die ganze Sintflut,
die Fahrt der Arche bis zum Aufstossen,
»der bekannte Patriarch«
eine »im tiefsten Sinne spannende Haltung«
»fast betåubend«,
dem Komponisten wurden die Songs
per Telefon von New York nach St. Moritz vorgespielt
(allerlei! Arche-Noah-Songs!)
The first two lines give the range which the play covers: this is obviously a
work in the grand manner, which in the cinema world would immediately
have the classification “epic” applied to it. The third, fourth and fifth lines
consist entirely of quotations, probably excerpts from reviews or publicity
material, in much the same way that advertisements for a play or a musical
show often include excerpts from favourable reviews, preferably those which
use superlatives, as in the fourth line. It is not clear until the following two
lines (21 and 22) that the Noah-epic is a musical show, but even then the
information is not conveyed direcly. The contents of these two lines show
M. R. Townson
168
how the modern composer organizes his life: he makes use of all the advanced technological devices, and is truly cosmopolitan, as is shown, for ex­
ample, by his choice of the fashionable resort of St. Moritz. The various impressions gained from the stanza do, however, when they are expanded and
joined in the mind of the reader, combine to give quite a full picture which
is realized by the associations which one can attach to the rather bare and
disconnected statements which appear on the page.
Two main types of collage can be distinguished as a result of the above
examples. In poems such as St. Petersburg and Der Broadway singt und
tanzt Benn gives various disjointed pieces of information which are, however,
of central importance, and by following the associations evoked by the vari­
ous strands of material it is possible to build up a comprehensive picture.
In poems such as C hao s or 1886, on the other hand, the very disjointedness of the material serves a definite stylistic purpose. The fragmentation of
the outer structure, the mixture of varied elements, can be used to reflect the
inner fragmentation of the subject.
b) Mixture of vocabulary
Under this heading come instances where words and phrases taken from
different levels of vocabulary and style are used in conjunction with each
other; there could, for example, be a juxtaposition of slang terms and mythi­
cal references. With this type of montage it is not usually necessary to consider whole poems, as was the case with the previous category, but rather
single lines and stanzas. The question here is more one of a single stylistic
feature than of the poem as a complete and total formal entity.
A very important section of this category, and one which illustrates it
most clearly, concerns Benn’s use of foreign words; it will therefore be neces­
sary to study this as well as the juxtaposition of varying German terms before
any definite conclusions can be reached.
i) German terms (incl. proper names)
The first example is taken from the second poem of the cycle Quartår, and
provides an interesting clue to one of the reasons for the montage teehnique
as it is one that has been commented on by Benn himself. The first stanza
contains the following lines:
die Zyklen brechen hervor:
uralte Sphinxe, Geigen
und von Babylon ein Tor,
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn s lyric
5
169
ein Jazz vom Rio del Grande,
ein Swing und ein G ebet17
Lines 3 to 6 are obviously an extension of line 2 and are intended to give an
illustration of the various cycles of history: lines 3 and 4 (antiquity) are set in
contrast to lines 5 and 6 (the modern age). There is a curious mixture of
elements here, for example in the juxtaposition of ‘Swing’ (a jazz term) and
‘Gebet’ in line 6, but the associations of modernity and antiquity which
the images possess, the required impression is conveyed. This does not, however, explain why Benn employs these images and not others which would
perhaps have conveyved exactly the same impression. A clue to this can be
gleaned from a letter which Benn wrote on 19. 2. 52. to Edgar Lohner, ob­
viously in reply to a number of questions which Lohner had asked him concerning various expressions used in his work. One of these dealt with line 5
of the present example, which Benn explains as follows:
VI.Jazz vom Rio del Grande. Einen Grund hierfur
kann ich nicht angebcn, ich brauchte diesen Vers,
seinen Inhalt und seinen Rhythmus.18
It is significant that Benn states the importance for him of the rhythm of this
line, for it shows that his choice was prompted to a large extent by artistic
considerations: he used the words he did because they fitted into the soundpattern of the stanza. His choice of content was dictated also by the other
lines of the stanza, or can at least be explained by reference to them: musical
images predominate, and ‘Jazz’ is used as the opposite, modern, pole of the
‘uralte Geigen’ in line 3. Then the choice of ‘Rio del Grande’ — a modern
South American metropolis, therefore a town of the New World — is deter­
mined by the need to provide a contrast with Babylon in line 4. This still
does not give a complete explanation for the use of the image, for the particular juxtaposition of ‘Jazz’ and ‘Rio del Grande’ and the insertion of the
whole line into the poem, but it does show that rhythrnic and structural con­
siderations, and also sound-values, were to a large extent responsible for the
use of this particular image.
That artistic considerations weighed heavily with Benn in his choice of
vocabulary and images, at times more heavily than factual accuracy, is shown
by the first two lines of the poem Ostafrika:
17. GW III, 185
18. BENN: Ausgewdhlte Briefe, cd. RYCHNER, Max (Wiesbaden 1957) p. 227.
M. R. Townson
170
Ostafrika im Hirne,
Togo, der Amok tanzt: 19
It would appear that ‘Ostafrika’ and ‘Togo’ are connected in some way,
partieularly as the whole poem bears the title Ostafrika, but in faet Togo is
a republic in West Africa, and therefore has no connexion with the eastern
side of the continent at all. There are only two possible explanations for this
apparent ‘mistake’: the first is that Benn did not know his geography, and the
second, and more probable, is that Togo fitted best into the pattern Benn
was building, so aesthetic considerations took precedence over mere factual
accuracy.
Rhythmic, formal and sound values do not, however, provide the sole
reason for Benn’s juxtaposition of vocabulary from various spheres. This was
shown by the example from Die Dånin quoted at the beginning of the chapter
where Benn joined a Christian and a mythical allusion in one image: the
complexity of this image served to express a somewhat complicated thought
in a striking and succinct form.
The poem Innerlich, partieularly in its sixth section, contains a bewildering
variety of vocabulary:
1
O Seele, futsch die Apanage
Baal-Bethlehem, der letzte Chip.
hau ab zur Augiasgarage,
friss Saures, hoch der Drogenflip — 20
‘Apanage’ is the provision made by a king or prince for the younger, nonruling members of his family, and by extension means an endowment or
perquisite, something for which one does not have to work. ‘Chip’ obviously
indicates a token used in gambling. Augias was the legendary king of Elis,
whose vast stable (Augiasstall) Hercules swept within the space of one day.
‘Augiasgarage’ is obviously an anachronism, and can be regarded either as
an attempt at modernizing the legend or at debasing it by reducing it to
modern terms and deliberately creating a ridiculous anachronism. ‘Drogen­
flip’ is a compound of drug and alcoholic drink (‘Flip’). There is a mixture
here then of religious, mythical. gambling and narcotic terms plus two slang
expressions (‘futsch’ and ‘hau ab’) which do in faet add up to a complete
whole.
19. GW III, 94
20. GW III, 404
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn s lyric
171
‘Baal-Bethlehem’, a curious mixture of the pagan and the Christian, indicates religion in all its aspects, Baal and Bethlehem representing the two
extreme poles, and religion is connected with ‘Apanage’, as can be seen from
the lack of comma at the end of the first line; the opinion held of religion
as ‘something for nothing’ is made obvious by this relationship. The word
‘futsch’ is a slang term for ‘lost’ or ‘gone’. This means that religion of any
kind, which used to provide man with a way of living, is now gone. ‘Der
letzte Chip’ placed in apposition to Baal-Bethlehem indicates that the last
stakes have been played and lost. The equation of religion and gambling
jargon is intended as a deliberate debasement of the former: religion was
nothing but a gamble which did not come off. The third line seems to indicate a return to the world of myth, although this is expressed in highly
colloquial terms with the phrase ‘hau ab’. In the fourth line the return to
myth is expanded into more general terms of regression, which is to be
achieved by taking drugs, but even here the tone is one of debasement, as
can be seen for example from the use of the term ‘friss’.
The message of this stanza is clear, though once again it lies in implicit
associations rather than explicit statements. The range from which the words
are taken is large, but the preponderance of colloquial and slang expressions,
together with the use of a gambling term, lowers the tone of the whole stanza
and has the effect of belittling human activity of any kind whatsoever.
A similar example of debasement, achieved by recounting a myth using
modern slang and colloquial terms, is to be found in the account of the
Prometheus legend in the poem Prolog 1920.21
The fourth stanza of the poem Stilleben contains an interesting interposition of sporting imagery which is perhaps relevant to an examination of
style levels:
20
21. GW III, 395ff
22. GW III, 264
die Zeit hat etwas Stilles bekommen,
die Stunde atmet,
iiber einem Krug,
es ist spåt, die Schlåge verteilt
noch ein wenig Clinch und Halten,
Gong — ich verschenke die Welt
wem sie geniigt, soli sich erfreun: 22
M. R. Townson
172
It is not perhaps so much the faet that Benn uses a sporting image here
which appears incongruous as the type of sporting vocabulary which he employs, with such words as ‘Clinch’ and ‘Gong’.
The theme of the stanza is quite clear: it is another instance of Endstimmung, and line 20 contains the basic message: “es ist spat”. The question is,
why the boxing image? It is obvious that the poet is describing the end of a
boxing match, when both fighters are weary and just trying to hold on until
the final bell, which comes in line 22. A parallel is doubtless meant to be
conveyed between the boxing match and the poet’s life, which is also drawing
to a close (this poem was written in 1951): life has been a struggle, but now
the end of that struggle is in sight. Althought it is easy enough to explain the
function of this image within the stanza, however, it is more difficult to ex­
plain the choice of the image and especially of the vocabulary which does not
seem in keeping with the tone and style of the rest of the poem: in faet the
only reason which presents itself is that for some reason or other Benn was
fond of boxing images, which occur on at least two other occasions in his
lyric.
In the poem Eine Hymne Benn praises those men:
Mit jener Eigenschaft der grossen Puncher:
Schlåge hinnehmen konnen
stehn 23
from which it is clear that he reserves some sympathy for members of the
prize-fighting fraternity, and in the second poem of the cycle Destille the first
stanza runs:
Es gibt Melodien und Lieder,
die bestimmte Rhythmen betreun,
die schlagen dein Inneres nieder
und du bist am Boden bis neun 24
where the fourth line is clearly a reference to the count in boxing, the signi­
ficance of nine being that the person is not quite rendered unconscious, but
is very close to it.
i i) Foreign words
Interesting though the above examples are for a study of Benn’s style they
are, however, not as clear or as illuminating as those instances in which Benn
23. GW III, 270
24. GW III, 276
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn s lyric
173
inserts foreign words into his verses. The foreign word obviously stands out
very clearly from its German surroundings and thus provides an extreme
example of the mixture of vocabulary from a variety of different spheres, for
these alien insertions are truly alien as they are taken from a foreign language.
This section will attempt to contribute to an understanding of Benn’s use
of the montage teehnique and explain something of the function and effect of
the foreign word in Benn’s lyric. It is also hoped to remedy some of the defects present in Erhard Kaufmann’s article on the foreign word in Benn’s
lyric.25 Kaufmann has done a most detailed statistical study of foreign words
in Benn’s lyric, but unfortunately never states what he means by Fremdwort
and includes terms of foreign origin which are now firmly established in the
German language, such as System, Café, Banane, Klavier, Drogen, Chaos and
Palast, and proper nouns and geographical terms, such as Adam, Chopin and
Pazifik. Although strictly speaking these are Fremdwort er they are the kind
of words that most Germans would use anyway, and as such do not truly
represent alien elements in Benn’s work: thus Kaufmann’s results tend to be
distorted. Also the statistical method which he has chosen, and the limits he
has set himself teil one nothing about the function or use of these words in
Benn’s lyric, which is the true purpose of a stylistic analysis, so the value of
his study might justly be questioned.
It is proposed here to consider only those foreign words in Benn’s lyric
which are truly alien, i.e. which do not form a part of the German vocabulary
or w'hich, if they have been adopted into it, are still sufficiently rare to appear
out of place in a German context. Personal proper names and geographical
terms will also be disregarded as these are words which would have to be
taken over into German in their foreign form or a variant of it if one wished
to use them. This definition, partieularly the first part of it, must unfortu­
nately seem a little arbitrary, but it is the only way of ensuring that the words
and phrases considered really are alien in their context. It is also not intended
to consider every instance of a foreign word in Benn’s lyric, as Kaufmann
has done, but to concentrate on selected examples.
It will be shown that there are two main reasons for Benn’s use of foreign
words in his lyric. The first is that foreign words are used either because
there is no German equivalent or because the equivalent German term does
not convey the same impression as the foreign word, and the second that by
25. KAUFMANN, E.: »Das Fremdwort in der Lyrik Gottfried Benns« in: Zeitschrift fiir
deutsche Sprache XX, 1/2 pp. 33-49 (1964).
174
M. R. Townson
using foreign words or phrases. even where there is a corresponding German
equivalent, he can create a certain atmosphere or effect. In both these catego­
ries foreign words are used for a definite stylistic purpose and not just for
show or affectation.
The first example, which demonstrates both categories. is taken from the
Studien to the oratorio Das Unaufhorliche in which there is a section entitled
Lebe Wohl:
25
30
35
Lebe wohl,
farewell,
und nevermore-:
aller Sprachen Schmerz- und Schattenlaut
sind dem Herzen,
sind dem Ohre
unaufhorlich
tief vertraut.
Lebe wohl,
good bye
felice notte
und was sonst noch heisst, dass es nicht bleibt . . . 26
There are two foreign languages used here, English and Italian, with the
former predominating. Although the foreign expressions are outnumbered by
German words, they are placed in an important position at the beginning of
the two stanzas in sucli a way that the remainder of the stanza is a comment
on them; Benn only uses these foreign expressions, however, as individual,
ready-made elements within the structure of his German sentence: in each
stanza, the foreign terms are subordinated to the German: ‘Lebe wohl’ is
placed at the head of the sentence, and the German und connects ‘farewell’
and ‘nevermore’ in the first stanza. Each of these terms is therefore regarded
as a separate fragment in a sentence which is principally German.
The reason for the use of foreign words is given by the structure of the
stanzas and what the poet is trying to say. In each case Benn wishes to give
an impression of universality: in the fourth line of the first stanza the poet
speaks of “aller Sprachen Schmerz- und Schattenlaut”, and in the fourth line
of the second stanza where the tone is, however, more depressed and resigned
he talks of: “und was sonst noch heisst, dass es nicht bleibt”. As Benn is on
26. GW III, 149
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn’s lyric
175
each occasion dealing with universality and variety of language, it is quite
understandable that he chooses to insert foreign words to express this.
The other question that must be asked is whether Benn had any particular
reason for using the actual foreign words that he did, and here it is interesting
to refer to that section of Probleme der Lyrik where Benn deals with the
national character of language, for there he mentions specifically one of the
words appearing in the present example:
Oder nevermore mit seinen zwei kurzen vcrschlossenen
Anfangssilben und dann dem dunklen stromenden more,
in dem fiir uns das Moor aufklingt und la mort, ist
nicht nimmermehr — nevermore ist schoner. Worte
schlagen mehr an als die Nachricht und den Inhalt . . . 27
Given that Benn needed foreign words for these stanzas, it seems clear
from this that the choice of at least one of these words was dictated by its
evocative powers and sound values, which play a not inconsiderable part in
Benn’s choice and use of foreign expressions. This can be seen for example
in the first stanza of the poem Wirklichkeit:
Eine Wirklichkeit ist nicht vonnoten,
ja es gibt sie gar nicht, wenn ein Mann
aus dem Urmotiv der Flairs und Floten
seine Existenz beweisen kann 28
Of particular interest here is the end of the third line, “Flairs und Floten”.
This image is intended to stand for art: the flute is a well-known symbol for
art in Benn’s work, and the word ‘Flair’ refers to artistic talent. By using the
word ‘Flair’ Benn achieves the alliteration of “F/airs und F/oten” and has a
triple ‘f sound with “Urmotiv, F/airs und F/oten”, so it seems that, to a large
extent, aesthetic considerations were responsible for Benn’s use of the foreign
word ‘Flair’ in this context.
A further example of the first category of foreign usage is contained in the
poem Nachzeichnung. The tone of this work is one of desire and longing for
some past experience, probably a love-affair, as the poet addresses a ‘Du’.
The opening couplet contains a Franco-German compound noun:
O jene Jahre! Der Morgen grunes Licht,
auch die noch nicht gefegten Lusttrottoire — 29
27. GW 1, 511
28. GW III, 283
29. GW III, 212
M. R. Townson
176
The time is early morning, and there is a certain “morning after the night
before” atmosphere about these lines, or, to be more precise, of having been
up all night. The word ‘Lust-trottoire strengthens this impression. ‘Lust’ can
mean pleasure or enjoyment, it can also mean lust, though the first meaning
seems more likely here. The pavements, then, have witnessed pleasure and
gaiety, but one could hardly imagine the staid German word Bilrgersteig,
with the air of bourgeois middle-class respectability attached to the word
‘Biirger’ being used in this context, so Benn takes instead the lighter-sounding
and more frivolous French word ‘trottoir’ which suits the mood of the poem
much better.
Another occasion on which a foreign word is used instead of the approximate German equivalent occurs in the first stanza of the poem Verzweiflung
and shows again how Benn is able to differentiale between the varying shades
of meaning which seemingly equivalent words possess in different languages:
5
Was du in Drogerien sprachst
beim Einkauf von Mitteln
oder mit deinem Schneider
ausserhalb des Massgeschåftlichen —
was fiir ein Nonsens diese Gespråchsfetzen,
warst du da etwa drin? 30
The French word ‘Nonsens’ in line 5 is perhaps not as strong as the
very definite German Unsinn, and it also carries overtones of the English
‘nonsense’ which can also be something light-hearted and amusing, as is the
nonsense verse Edward Lear for example. That the word ‘Nonsens’ is not
intended to carry the full sense of Unsinn can be seen from its context. Benn
is referring here to the platitudes of normal everyday life, unconsidered verbal
formulae which do not really mean anything: it would have been impossible
to express this notion by the absoluteness of the German Unsinn.
The poem Menschen getroffen also contains a foreign word which illustrates the first category:
30. GW III, 294
31. GW III, 321
9
Ich habe Menschen getroffen, die
13
hochkamen, åusserlich schon und ladylike wie
Gråfinnen — 31
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn s lyric
177
It is suggested that the English word ‘ladylike’ is used here because there
is no direct German corresponding equivalent, as the word ‘lady’ carries not
only the meaning of the German word Dame but is also the feminine form
of the English ‘lord’, and thus the word also bears aristocratic associations.
That this applies for Benn is shown by the faet that he connects the term with
an aristocratic title: “ladylike wie Grafinnen”.
On at least two occasions Benn uses the English terms ‘city’ and ‘town
instead of the German Grossstadt and Stadt, and each of these instances
illustrates one of the two categories of foreign usage. The first is in the opening stanza of the poem Melodien:
Ja, Melodien — da verbleieht der Frager,
er ist nicht mehr der Zahl- und Citymann.
die W olken ståuben iiber seinem Lager,
die Ozeane schlagen unten an.32
This stanza describes the effect that tunes have on people: they destroy
the civilized superstructure and pave the way for the rise of more primal
elements, which are represented in this case by clouds and the sea.33 The
civilized superstructure of human personality is represented here by the expression ‘der Zahl- und Citymann’. The key to the use of the word city is
found partly in the preceding noun ‘Zahl’. Figures and statistic are a mani­
festation of modern technological society where everything is worked out and
planned in complicated calculations. The word also, however, has economic
and financial overtones; in English and American usage the word ‘city’ often
refers to the financial centre of a country. For instance, the financial news in
many newspapers is often entitled “City News”, the City in England being
that square mile in London where much of the nation s financial business is
transacted. A city is also, of course, a large centre of population, one of the
phenomena of a modern, civilized age. Therefore in “Zahl- und Citymann”
are contained overtones of a modern. technological, capitalist and metropolitan
society. The word ‘city’, with ist twin associations, is used here because no
German word carries the same associations; a Grossstadtmensch is indeed a
city-dweller, but the word has no financial overtones, and the use of the word
32. GW III, 272
33. The sea especially is a symbol of the horizontal and also represents the primal element of
water, cf. GW II, 245. Clouds also are water-carriers and rain can play an important
part in regression; e.g. viz. GW II, 35 and cf. GRIMM, R: Gottfried Benn. Die farbliche Chiffre in der Dichtung. (Nuremberg 1962) pp. 10-11 et seq.
178
M. R. Townson
Borse or something similar to achieve the finaneial effect would completely
miss the metropolitan element.
The second instance occurs in the poem Bar. Although the word ‘Bar’now
enjoys widespread popularity in Germany, it contains a certain snob-appeal by
reason of its Anglo-Saxon origins. It was originally an English word, and the
poem, particularly in its first three stanzas, bears a strong American accent.
For instance, nearly half of the second stanza is written in English, reproducing the song sung by the bar-singer, and the third stanza contains two
Anglo-American expressions, including the word ‘Town’:
10
Berlin in Klammern und Banden
sechs Meiien eng die Town
und keine Klipper landen,
wenn so die Nebel braun 34
Klipper here is the name of a type of American aircraf, and the word
1 own is used for special effect to strengthen the American atmosphere which
is prevalent in at least the first three stanzas of this poem.
The final example that it is proposed to consider in this second category
is the poem Am Saum des Nordischen Meers: ^ in this poem Benn uses a
number of English words, namely ‘Money’ (1. 4), ‘Ladies’ (1. 13), ‘Germany’
(1. 43), ‘German’ (1. 44) and ‘Song’ (1. 44). Although the title of the poem
does not give a definite place for the action, the use of English words specifies
this exactly. There is for example the description of “ein Haus ohne Fehle, /
wo englisch Money klingt” (11. 3/4): here the use of ‘Money’ instead of Geld
strengthens the English setting of the poem.
The theme of the poem is the comforting and uplifting quality of art,
which is compared with the power of political empire-building, over the
forces of which it exercises command and fascination; in other words, art is
stronger than politics. In the third stanza, as an illustration of this, the effect
of Schubert’s Litany on the assembled representatives of colonial power is
described:
21
34. GW III, 284
35. GW III, 167f
•••
alle trinken
die Schubertsche Litanei
und die Rauberwelten versinken
von Capetown bis Shanghai
The montage-technique in Gottfried Benn’s lyric
179
It is natural that England should be ehosen for this eomparison, for at the
time of composition of the poem (1936) England was probably still the world s
leading colonial power. In the second stanza the word ‘Ladies is used, and the
reason for this is partly the same as for the use of ‘ladylike’ in Menschen
getroffen, partieularly as here the ladies are described as “die erlauchten”,
and partly once again to help set the scene.
In the final stanza Benn uses the words ‘Germany’, ‘German’ and ‘Song’:
45
die Stimme singt:
Germany ohne Ende,
wenn German song erklingt,
dann ist es ohne Fehle
und gibt seinen Sohnen Ruh —
The use of these English words can be explained partly in the light of the
previous stanza, i.e. contextually, for there Benn writes:
35
die Lieder, die grenzenlosen,
die ein anderes Volk ihr bringt,
die machen die Macht zur Beute
einer anderen Måchtigkeit:
Ben uses ‘German song’ in the final stanza partly because of his earlier
reference to Schubert (1. 22) and partly because, following on from the extract
quoted above, the songs have to be foreign. By using foreign words, in this
case English, Benn strengthens the faet that the songs are the product of
another people; he has to use English words to describe the German songs as
the rest of the poem is written in German. The particular use of the word
‘song’ is explained partly by the above and partly by the faet that, in English,
the songs of Schubert, for example, are called by their German name Lieder.
Benn was obviously unable to convey this nuance by inserting the word
Lieder in his stanza, as it would not have had any special meaning in the
German context, so he was forced to use the corresponding word which would
appear as a Fremdwort in German. To a certain extent this stanza resembles
a photographic negative, in which the normal colours are reversed, i.e. Eng­
lish words are used here in German where, in English, German words would
have been used.
Conclusion
The way in which Benn uses montage has been shown in the analyses of instances of montage taken from the two main categories of collage and the
180
M. R. Townson
mixture of vocabulary. Reasons for Benn’s use of the montage teehnique have
been intimated in the course of this examination. but it will now be necessary
briefly to draw these threads together.
By his use of the collage teehnique and also, to a lesser extent, by the
mixture of vocabulary, Benn forges new linguistic links and relationships, in
the operation of which association plays an important part. In so doing he
makes the arrangement of his material carry great expressive power, as was
shown for example by Chaos and 1886. The new linguistic patterns and sys­
tems which he forms represent a turning-away from conventional grammatic
and syntactic relationships and the attempt to form a new mode of language
in which the language pattern is dictated by the poem and the poet and not
arbitrarily imposed from outside.
Benn also manages to transcend conventional linguistic usage by simultaneously using vocabulary taken from a variety of spheres. The main artistic
effect achieved, however, is an accuracy and fineness of expression and the
ability to achieve special linguistic effects, both of which are shown particular­
ly well in the case of foreign words. In Probleme der Lyrik Benn regarded
poetic language as having a national character and limitation, with seemingly
equivalent words in different languages carrying different associations and
shades of meaning. He is, however, prepared to go outside the bounds of his
°wn language to incorporate these subtleties of meaning. Also, by using a
foreign language for its quality of foreignness Benn achieves certain special
effects which would have been impossible had he kept solely to German: this
was shown in Am Saum des Nordischen Meers for example.
In brief, then, by his use of the montage teehnique in its two aspects Benn
manages to extend the possibilities and the expressive power of his language,
and thus contributes to its advancement.