Hanns Meinke

Hanns Meinke (born May 12, 1884 in Strasburg (Uckermark) , † February 12, 1974 in Berlin ) was a German poet who was influenced by various currents of his time, but remained undogmatic. Whatever he liked, he used for his work without letting himself be absorbed by world views, religions, individual groups or their leaders. Initially shaped by romanticism and literary symbolism , as a member of the Charon circle he was guided by the free rhythms and the mythological imagery of Charon poetry. Later, the poet Stefan George (1868–1933) became an important model of style, and Meinke turned to stricter forms. Finally, he dealt with the Islamic Sufi movement and the Persian mystic and poet Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi , whose Rubayiate he rewrote in German. He also translated the poems of the Persian Muhammad Iqbal into German. Meinke's prose work is (as of 2015) completely unpublished, as is his correspondence with personalities such as Hermann Hesse or Rudolf Pannwitz , Albert Soergel or Annemarie Schimmel . As a visual artist , Meinke has created woodcuts, linocuts, graphics, watercolors, drawings, sketches, lithographs and paper cuttings.

Hanns Meinke's estate and work are managed in the Hanns Meinke archive of the Berlin Academy of the Arts .

biography

Meinke was born as Johannes Bruno Meinke on May 12, 1884 as the tenth and last child of the master potter Hermann Karl Meinke and his wife Adolphine Meinke, née. Kietzmann, born in Strasburg in the Uckermark. Five of his siblings had already died at the time of his birth. After working in Soldin (now Poland) and Berlin, the family moved to Lichtenow in the Niederbarnim district in 1890 , where their father took over the management of the furnace factory. Meinke attended the one-class village school. Because he was not challenged there, he also received private lessons three times a week from the local poet and conductor of the Lichtenower men's choir Emil Böhm in neighboring Kagel. During his time in Kagel, Hanns Meinke began to read intensively, inspired by Böhm, among others. When a basement room became available in his parents' house, he was allowed to set up his own room including a library, which was dubbed “Hansen's Boudoir ”. He received many of his books from his brother Willi, who worked as a sales representative.

At the age of ten, Hanns Meinke already knew that he wanted to become a poet. At the age of twelve he decided to become a teacher because it would offer him a secure income and enough time to pursue his calling as a poet, which he assumed would be futile . For him, the teaching profession wasn't just about earning a living; he was also interested in “keeping young, everyday dealing with children growing up”.

After graduating from primary school, he attended the preparatory institute in Oranienburg, which prepared him for the teachers' seminar in Neuzelle. Meinke finally worked as a primary school teacher in various places in the district of Crossen on the Oder (now Poland) and the Mark Brandenburg . He mostly taught in secluded villages, which offered him plenty of peace and quiet for undisturbed poetry.

In 1910 Meinke married Anna ("Anita") Georgina Stammer. The children Edda, Ingeborg and Elmar Hans-Helmut were born in 1911, 1912 and 1915. In 1933 Meinke retired at his own request. He distanced himself from National Socialism and refused to join the Reichsschrifttumskammer . Only its members were officially allowed to work “in the field of literature”, but some of his poems were published during this time. After Meinke's retirement, the family moved to Berlin-Neukölln and in 1936 to Königs Wusterhausen . Meinke spent most of his life there.

Meinke's wife died in 1951. After her death, Meinke stopped poetry. In 1959 he moved to live with his son, the doctor Elmar Meinke, and his family in Berlin-Moabit. Elmar Meinke had a fatal accident in 1971, which shook his father badly. Meinke died on February 12, 1974 after a short illness and was buried in the cemetery of the St. Matthias Congregation (Berlin-Tempelhof) .

poetry

Romanticism and literary symbolism

At a young age, Hanns Meinke oriented himself towards romanticism and literary symbolism . He admired ETA Hoffmann , Edgar Allan Poe , Oscar Wilde , Charles Baudelaire , Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine . In 1910 he dedicated his "Masks of Marsyas, six woodcuts and six sonnets" to them.

Charon circle

As a young teacher, Hanns Meinke met his colleague Rudolf Pannwitz and through him Otto zur Linde , both founders of the Charon group. In 1905 Meinke's first poems appeared in the magazine "Charon" . "With that I became a Charontist overnight and thus an antipode to Stefan Georges and his circle". That worried him because he had already come into contact with George's poetry and felt a kinship with the poet.

The poets of the Charon circle, most of them teachers, were, according to Albert Soergel, representatives of a metaphysical expressionism that combined a longing for the “unnameable” and a religious tone. They saw themselves as anti-dogmatic and anti-hierarchical and did not follow any clear rules in their poetry. Rather, they believed in self-expression independent of imitation. So that they distanced themselves too much of Stefan George and his circle . By overcoming all metrics, they wanted to disinhibit the poet, "because every person is inexhaustible if he were just him". In addition to Rudolf Pannwitz and Otto zur Linde a. a. also Erich Bockemühl , Max Friedlaender, Salomo Friedlaender , Else Lasker-Schüler , the reform pedagogue Berthold Otto and Rudolf Paulsen . During his time as a member of the circle, Hanns Meinke used free rhythms and a mythological imagery, as is usual in the Charon circle. When Rudolf von Pannwitz left the Charon circle after a conflict with Otto zur Linde in 1908 and approached George, Meinke avoided taking a position and also distanced himself from the circle. Meinke kept his fondness for the myth. Figures like Dionysus , Proteus or the Celtic magician Merlin remained part of his poetry throughout his life. In particular, he increasingly identified with Merlin, who for him embodied the elemental, the divine in nature. But he distanced himself from free rhythms and instead increasingly opted for a strict form. At the age of 61 he wrote:

This is an experience of my maturity:
the closer I forge my bonds, the more
liberated I can walk towards the light
(...)

Stefan George

In his memories of Stefan George , Hanns Meinke describes how he came into contact with the poet Stefan George at the age of twelve : he bought a piece of bread that was wrapped in an “entertainment paper” in which he wrote an article about Charles Baudelaire and his “Fleurs du Mal “ discovered. Then he read the work, but found it difficult with the French. So he came across Stefan George's translation, which made a lasting impression on him: "I found my own being so clearly expressed in a way that I have never been able to do before." He felt related to George.

In 1911 Meinke tried to get closer to Stefan George. Under the pseudonym Magus Merlin ("Vom Kinde Magus Merlin") and without a return address, he sent him an artistically designed copy of his sonnet cycle Shakespeare's Shadows . After all, George was so impressed that he asked Berthold Vallentin , a member of his circle , to find the poet. He succeeded and paid Meinke a visit. Meinke then sent George three sonnet wreaths. In response, George dedicated a poem to him:

HM
A wise man is who in the midst of a great number of
people can quietly lead with color and tone ..
But wise still whom - even as the best player -
sometimes it seems outrageous: to stir the harps.

Apparently, George appreciated Meinke's poetry, but at the same time criticized it. How this is to be understood is interpreted differently. George may accuse him of not taking his skills seriously enough or criticize his playing around with different forms, which are primarily aesthetically motivated but not ethically justified. This was actually shown in Meinke's Maximin poems , in which he imitated graphic and stylistic details as well as themes and stanzas from George's poems. He was particularly interested in the aesthetic dimension of George's Maximin cult, its ethical basis hardly played a role for him. George's criticism of Meinke's aestheticism is supported by the fact that George sent him the first volume of the yearbook for the spiritual movement . The yearbook, which was published by members of the George circle, unfolds their worldview. So it can be assumed that George hoped to be able to swear Meinke to the ethos of the circle. But Meinke shied away from making a clear commitment. Probably he was more interested in recognition by George as an equal poet than in acceptance into the circle or a life as a George disciple. Meinke's argument with George lasted for years until after his death. The last contact was made in 1932. It remained, however, that he neither met George personally nor was he allowed into his circle.

pantheism

Hanns Meinke saw himself as a pantheist who saw the divine in nature. This did not prevent him from converting from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1933 and presenting his work Anno Santo (1936) to Pope Pius XI on the occasion of the opening of the Porta Sacra in the Holy Year 1933 . to dedicate. In addition, he dealt in particular with the Islamic Sufi movement , but also with other religions and religious currents. For example, he attended a Baptist congress, a conference on "Hinduism and Islam as spiritual powers in the modern world" or an event organized by the Berlin Sufi Order on world religions. At an advanced age Meinke saw himself as a reincarnation of Akhenaten , probably because the ancient Egyptian pharaoh worshiped the sun god Aton , just as Meinke saw the divine in the natural elements and especially in the sun. In his poetry, Meinke placed religious figures in the world of myth.

Islamic Sufi Movement and Persian Poets

Meinke studied the Islamic Sufi movement , which is based on the unity of God and nature. Meinke had already attracted the divine in nature to the Celtic magician Merlin. Now the Persian poet Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207–1273) became one of his mystical and lyrical models. Orient and Occident could no longer be separated for him, in old age he joined a dervish order in Turkey. In the obituary of the magazine "Castrum Peregrini" Meinke is called "Dervish from the Uckermark".

Rumi me and merlin er - we dance
on swept floors
, ONE element,
harvest dance of the times:
flame dance ! the earth space empty
new singabilities.

In 1926, Meinke's revisions of the Rubayiate by Rumi appeared, which he called the Chymic Wedding of Merlin and Rumi . It cannot be proven in detail whether he oriented himself to the original text or to translations during the rewrapping. In his translations of the Persian poet Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) Meinke received support from the orientologists Joseph Hell and Annemarie Schimmel and the imam of the Berlin mosque, Khan Durrani.

Publication of his works

After the first poems had already appeared in the magazine “Charon” in 1905 , others were printed in anthologies, for example in the Art Nouveau anthology “Germinating Gardens” from 1910. Meinke also sent his poems to friends in skilfully written copies in bright ink on fine paper and to give away friends. His books are total works of art of his verses, his own woodcuts and drawings, as well as colorful calligraphy. Meinke founded the Merlin press in the twenties. His texts, which were printed there in small editions with a hand press, were published by Weißen Ritter Verlag; later some of his poems were published by other small publishers. From 1922 Meinke distributed individual prints as lyric leaflets for the Merlin press . The magazine "Castrum Peregrini" regularly printed Meinke's poems, Rumi - Ghaselen and translations by the Persian Muhammad Iqbal . His prose work has not been published, as has his correspondence with personalities such as Hermann Hesse , Rudolf Pannwitz , Albert Soergel and Annemarie Schimmel . Meinke never succeeded in winning a well-known publisher for himself.

Selected works

• Masks of Marsyas. Six woodcuts and six sonnets . Privat-Druck, o. O., 1910
• Voice in the storm. Poems . Printed as handwriting for classmates from Neuzell (1901–1904), Streckenthin-Pritzwalk, 1916
• The three sonnet wreaths . First reprint from Merlin-Presse Christmas, 1918
• Merlin's magic key. A prologue. With woodcuts by Hanns Meinke . Printed from the handwriting of the author, o.O., 1918
• To Allegra. Poems from the years 1908–1918 . Second lyric leaflet. Printed by Rossteutscher, Coburg 1919 (published expanded Regensburg, 1921, as vol. 1 of the Merlin-Presse)
• The escape of Dionysus. A prelude to a dance: Dionysus among the barbarians. Scenes from a foreplay. Third lyrical leaflet from the Merlin press. Printed by Heinrich Schiele, Regensburg, 1919
• Leonardo. A monologue. In the handwriting of the author as the first lyrical leaflet in the Merlin press. Printed by Tienken, Pritzwalk 1919
• Sound of the night. Poems. With hand-colored title woodcut, hand-painted book decorations and 10 hand-colored initials in gold. Printed as handwriting for the poet by Merlin-Presse, o.O., 1919
• The three sonnet wreaths . Darmstadt, Darmstädter Werkkunst Verlag, 1921
• Dedications. Poems . Printed from the poet's handwriting, Berlin, Der Weisse Ritter Verlag, 1922
• Zarathustra's birth. Fragment from the epic “The Centaurs”. Composed in 1906 . Printed from the poet's handwriting, Berlin, Der Weisse Ritter Verlag, 1922
• Poems and songs of the child Merlin. Terzinen, 1908-1910, 1914 . Berlin, Der Weisse Ritter Verlag, 1923
• Breaths of the child Magus Merlin. In runes, pictures, riddles, dedicatory words, spells, incantations, vows, inscriptions and dedications. A Nordic rubajat . Berlin, Der Weisse Ritter Verlag Ludwig Voggenreiter, Merlin-Presse, 1924
• Chymic wedding of Merlin and Rumi. Sufi Ghazels from the Diwan-i-Schems-i Täbrizi Dschel ed-Ed-Din-Rumis in German rewording . Chemnitz, Society of Book Friends, 1926
• The Terzines of the Sphinx. Ceremony for the 50th birthday of Max Bruns . Minden, JCC Bruns, 1926
• The metamorphoses of Proteus. Transpositions of ten charcoal drawings based on the stories of the poet Rudolf Pannwitz. Reading aloud the song from Elen in autumn 1908. In linocut . Halle, Burg Giebichenstein, Merlin-Presse, 1926
• Anno Santo . Hamburg, Publishing House of Leaves for Poetry, 1936
• Poems . Selection: Karl Albin Bohacek, Hamburg, Ellermann, Das Gedicht, Blätter für die Dichtung, 2nd year, 8th episode, 1936
• Metamorphoses of the Proteus. Inside: 10 linocuts. Hamburg, Publishing House of Leaves for Poetry, 1936
• The random sheaf . Karlsruhe, Karlsruher Bote, 1959
• The ballad by Ross Bayard . Reproduction of the poet's manuscript 1939, Berlin, 1967
• Ghaselen from Rumi's divan. Re-seals. Sufi Ghazels. Preludes to the Chymic Wedding . With an afterword by Joachim Uhlmann, Berlin, Paian Druck, 1969
• Selected poetry . Compiled and provided with an afterword by Helmut Röttger, Kastellaun, A. Henn Verlag, 1977
• Three wreaths for a chemical wedding . Karlsruhe, Karlsruher Bote, Dichterhandschriftbuch, 3, 1987
• Unpublished prose and drama, e.g. B. Texts on free spirit education
• Visual artistic work: woodcuts, linocuts, graphics, watercolors, drawings, sketches, lithographs, paper cuttings

literature

• Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George circle . Berlin 2011
• Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow . Frankfurter Buntbücher 54, edited by Wolfgang de Bruyn and Hans-Jürgen Rehfeld, Kleist-Museum, Frankfurt (Oder), 2014
• Albert Soergel: poetry and poet of the time. A description of the German literature of the last decades . R. Voigtländer Verlag, Leipzig 1927
• Anna Stüssi: Hanns Meinke , in: German Literature Lexicon 10 (1986); Col. 735-736
• Joachim Uhlmann: Epilogue , in: Hanns Meinke: Ghaselen from Rumis Diwan. Re-seals. Sufi Ghazels. Preludes to the Chymic Wedding , Paian Druck, Berlin 1969
• Hanns Meinke , in: Castrum Peregrini 9 (1952) and 48 (1961)
• Hanns Meinke , obituary, in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975)

Web links

• Hanns Meinke archive in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
• Literature by and about Hanns Meinke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on literary port

Footnotes

1. ↑ See Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis. Berlin 2011, pp. 180–194.
2. ^ Hanns Meinke: The first two seventies , unpublished, p. 143, quoted in: Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow . Frankfurter Buntbücher 54, edited by Wolfgang de Bruyn and Hans-Jürgen Rehfeld, Kleist-Museum, Frankfurt (Oder), 2014, p. 21.
3. ↑ For the biography cf. Biography Hanns Meinke , Hanns Meinke archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow . Frankfurter Buntbücher 54, edited by Wolfgang de Bruyn and Hans-Jürgen Rehfeld, Kleist-Museum, Frankfurt (Oder), 2014, p. 11 ff.
4. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George Circle , pp. 180–194
5. ^ Hanns Meinke: Memories of Stefan George , Hanns Meinke Archive
6. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis , p. 286
7. ↑ Quotation from Otto zur Linde in: Albert Soergel: Dichter und Dichter der Zeit. A description of the German literature of the last decades . R. Voigtländer Verlag, Leipzig 1927, p. 251
8. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George Circle, pp. 180–194
9. ↑ Cf. Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow , p. 6 and Joachim Uhlmann: Afterword , in: Hanns Meinke: Ghaselen from Rumis Diwan. Re-seals. Sufi Ghazels. Preludes to the Chymic Wedding , Paian Druck, Berlin 1969
10. ↑ Quoted in Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975), p. 75
11. ^ Hanns Meinke: Memories of Stefan George , Hanns Meinke Archive
12. ↑ Quoted in Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975), p. 73
13. ↑ Quoted in Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis , p. 187
14. ↑ Cf. on this Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis ; Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975); Meinke's biography in: Hanns Meinke: Ghaselen from Rumis Diwan. Re-seals. Sufi Ghazels. Preludes to the Chymic Wedding , Paian Druck, Berlin 1969
15. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George Circle , p. 191 f.
16. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George Circle , pp. 180–194
17. ↑ Materials Hanns Meinke Archive
18. ↑ Conversation with the grandson Herbert Meinke, quoted in Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis , p. 182
19. ↑ See also Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow , p. 10
20. ↑ Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow , p. 8
21. ^ Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975), p. 77
22. ↑ Quoted in: Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975), p. 77
23. ↑ Doctoral thesis Diethelm Balke, o. O., o. D., Hanns Meinke Archive
24. ↑ See writing by Khan Durrani; Diethelm Balke: Contribution to the F.A.Z, o. A. for Meinke's 80th birthday; Correspondence Annemarie Schimmel: Hanns Meinke Archive
25. ↑ See biography; Diethelm Balke, contribution to the F. A. Z., o. A. on Meinke's 80th birthday, Hanns Meinke Archive
26. ↑ Diethelm Balke, contribution to the F. A. Z., o. A. on Meinke's 80th birthday, Hanns Meinke Archive
27. ^ Obituary , in: Castrum Peregrini 118 (1975), p. 77
28. ↑ See also Edda Gutsche: Hanns Meinke in Lichtenow , pp. 6-10