Balduin Bählamm, the prevented poet

Balduin Bählamm, the prevented poet is the penultimate picture story written by the humorous poet and draftsman Wilhelm Busch . Similar to his last picture story, the painter Klecksel , he addresses artistic failure, which some bush biographers see as a self-comment on his life. Wilhelm Busch was known as a cartoonist and rhymer; but his attempts to establish himself as a serious painter and poet failed. His volume of poems Critique of the Hearthad not met with any response; his paintings did not meet his own standards, so that he never took part in an exhibition. His picture story is a mockery of the kitsch authors of his time. The main aim of the ridicule was the Munich poet's circle Die Krokodile , sponsored by King Max and formed around Emanuel Geibel , Friedrich Bodenstedt , Paul Heyse and others.

Content of the picture story

The picture story consists of nine chapters and a "conclusion". It begins with ironic contemplation

How comfortable is he who now and then

Can create something beautiful!

The (not yet) illustrated text on poetry as such, which then extends over four pages, is a highlight of Wilhelm Busch's humorous reflection. Then Balduin Bählamm's current story is told: He is the father of four children and a would-be poet who tries to escape his everyday life because he wants to devote himself to poetry. He is the prototype of those Sunday and holiday poets of the founding years who want to "edify" the reader.

At home he hangs his hat and skirt

To the usual clothes rack

And decorates his cabinet

With a jacket and a velvet beret,

Which, like poetry verse and rhyme,

Adorn the poet, the one at home.

In the case of Balduin Bählamm, however, the real obligations and the adversities of everyday prosaic life prevent him from ever succeeding in writing down his poetic ideas. After a whole series of grotesque mishaps that make up the content of the picture story, the poet's muse finally appears to him in a dream as a woman with wings wrapped in white , but she, too, turns out to be nothing more than a reinterpretation of recently experienced misfortunes. He can be glad that his wife suddenly pulls him out of his dreams and leads him back to reality:

The heavenly figure disappears

And only one thing is justified

Mrs. Bählamm calls out when he wakes:

“Out, my darling! It's already eight! "

Web links

Wikiquote: Baldwin Bählamm, the prevented poet  - quotations

• Wilhelm Busch : Baldwin baa-lamb, which prevented poet in the Project Gutenberg-DE

expenditure

• Wilhelm Busch: Balduin Bählamm the poet prevented. In: Rolf Hochhuth (Ed.): Wilhelm Busch, Complete Works and a selection of the sketches and paintings in two volumes. Volume 2: What is popular is also allowed. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1959, pp. 496–559.

supporting documents

literature

• Michaela Diers: Wilhelm Busch, life and work. dtv 2008, ISBN 978-3-423-34452-4
• Joseph Kraus: Wilhelm Busch. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1970 (16th edition 9/2004), ISBN 3-499-50163-5
• Gudrun Schury: I wish I were an Eskimo. The life of Wilhelm Busch. Biography . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-351-02653-0
• Gert Ueding : Wilhelm Busch. The 19th century in miniature. Insel, Frankfurt / M. 1977 (new edition 2007).
• Eva Weissweiler: Wilhelm Busch. The laughing pessimist. A biography . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-462-03930-6

Single receipts

1. ↑ see for example Diers, p. 147
2. ↑ Kraus, p. 101. See also Johannes Mahr (Ed.), Die Krokodile. A circle of poets from Munich, Stuttgart (Reclam) 1987