Poetry album

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Entry by 17-year-old Ernst Zuppinger in his sister's poetry album, 1892
Page from a poetry album from 1923 ...
... and the text page for it
Scrap picture around 1930 to 1940
Poetry album entry 1977

The poetry album , also known as poetry in short , is a firmly bound, often square book in the format of around 16 cm × 16 cm with white pages, in which quotations in the form of rhymes and verses (two-line, four-line, etc.) can be entered . Drawings, ornaments , pictures and photos often decorate the quotes. The poetry album reminds - like the diary - of people with whom the path of life or stages of life such as school, apprenticeship or studies were shared. Through the relationship between the owner of the album and the person making the entries, the poetry album becomes a document of an existing or past personal relationship.

Historical

In the late 16th century the custom of good friends name, emblem and was the motto in the studbook (not identical with the stud book for the purposes of family Stud book ) to write. In the 18th century, dedications and many drawings were added to the sayings, and in the course of time the family books became memory books. The poetry album had its heyday in the 19th century, when members of literary circles “immortalized” each other with verse and artistic contributions in specially purchased booklets. The custom practiced mainly by adults.

After Mair, the poetry albums were created as album amicorum in the student sector in the 16th century. According to the holdings of the Tyrolean State Museum, they were precious books in which famous professors immortalized themselves with sayings and allegorical drawings. It was not until the 18th century that books moved into the private middle class of adults. Typical in the 19th century were dried flowers, braided strands of hair or romantic landscape drawings.

Poetry albums since the beginning of the 20th century

Some of the poetry albums could be locked with simple little keys, and among children it was sometimes considered a sign of trust and friendship to be able to register.

The poetic verses were collected by passing the album on to relatives, classmates, teachers, friends and acquaintances. There was only one book page available for each entry (usually the right one). The left page of the book remained free and was used for artistic design. Popular were scraps , paper cutouts and glitter pictures, later called stickers that have been glued. Also drawings, e.g. B. with colored pencils, even after traced templates, were common. The pictures and drawings were often only used for decoration and rarely had any reference to the content of the entry.

Since poetry albums were typically kept in school from around elementary school age, the adult generation in educational-political circles sometimes viewed it as educationally valuable, as both handwriting in the form of calligraphy was practiced and taste in the selection of texts could be cultivated.

The registered wisdom, advice and warnings of religious and secular content made a contribution to theoretical help in life and coping with life. The album owner, as the recipient of the text, generally had no influence on the selection of the text or the external design of the entry. This area was reserved for the entries as individual freedom and leeway. The text and design of the entry refer back to the person making the entry as a document of personal ties. In addition to the function of teaching, helping and amusing, the function of remembering is of central importance in the entry in a poetry album.

Poetry albums today

The popularity and design of poetry albums is subject to a fashion trend. So albums with white pages and also with pre-printed forms are offered, similar to friendship books. The bindings, which used to be kept simple, are often colorful and rich in detail.

Registered verses

The owner of the album often announces some rules on the first page and thus contacts the entries, who asks for cleanliness and care in the entries. This formula-like, rhyming introduction often ends with the line "... and don't tear any pages out for me, otherwise the friendship will run out ..." Only rarely is the framework of the collection closed by an epilogue-like final formulation. On the last page of the album there was often the slogan: "I've taken root here so that nobody falls out of the album."

Between these framework elements, the contributions of the entries form the core of the poetry album. As a rule, these are not your own, self-made texts, but adopting pre-formulated texts and quotations from the literature. The following main themes should be mentioned: Desired texts (happiness, health) 7%, wisdom (general experience guidelines) 21%, doctrine of virtues (upbringing) 47%, friendship 15%, religion 8%. It is noticeable that some things are missing in the poetry albums: the actual lyric in the form of poems is not represented. There is also no political reference whatsoever, as is the representation of the negative. Among other things, the school in the "rear projection" becomes a space of security and carefree, especially since only the students and teachers wrote an entry who were asked to do so by the album's owner.

One of the most frequently entered verses was: "Let man be noble, helpful and good" ( J. W. Goethe ).

literature

  • Brigitte B. Fischer: You wrote to me or what became of my poetry album , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-7172-0273-1 .
  • Perk Loesch: The friendship monument. Family books and poetry albums from five centuries in the holdings of the Saxon State Library - State and University Library Dresden (= series of publications of the Saxon State Library - State and University Library. 8). Saxon State Library - State and University Library, Dresden 2003, ISBN 3-910005-28-4 .
  • Walter Methler, Eckehard Methler: poetry album and glossy picture. What moves people (e). (= Publications of the Henriette Davidis Museum. 24/25, 1). With a contribution “Poetry in a poetry album” by Jürgen Uebelgünn. HDM-Verlag, Wetter (Ruhr) 2011, ISBN 978-3-939898-08-5 . (Poetry album exhibition from December 3, 2011 to January 8, 2012 in the Henriette Davidis Museum Wetter (Ruhr)).
  • Walter Methler, Eckehard Methler: Weather (Ruhr). Local history in poetry albums from the 19th to the 21st century (= publications by the Henriette Davidis Museum. 24/25, 2). HDM-Verlag, Wetter (Ruhr) 2011, ISBN 978-3-939898-07-8 .
  • Elke Schneider (Hrsg.): Verses and proverbs for poetry album and guest book. Swiss Book Center, Olten 1977.
  • Jürgen Rossin: The poetry album. Studies on the variations of a stereotypical type of text. Series European University Writings, German Language and Literature, Vol. 805 . Peter Lang, Frankfurt, Bern, New York, 1985. ISBN 978-3820455830 .

Web links

Commons : Poetry albums  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Poetry album  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 39
  2. ^ Theresa Mair: How the poetry album became Facebook , in Tiroler Tageszeitung , July 6, 2017
  3. s. Jürgen Rossin, p. 80
  4. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 42
  5. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 63
  6. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 43
  7. Jürgen Rossin, p. 138
  8. Jürgen Rossin, p. 138
  9. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 48
  10. Jürgen Rossin, p. 265
  11. cf. Jürgen Rossin, pp. 268 and 269
  12. cf. Jürgen Rossin, p. 271