Peoples of the earth

Peoples of the Earth is a poem by Nelly Sachs . A first version was created in 1948/49 and appeared for the first time in 1950 in its sense and form . At the request of Hans Magnus Enzensberger , a revised version was included in the collection of poems " Fahrt ins Staublose" in 1961 . However, the poem is now counted as the second edition of Sachs' book of poems Star Darkening .

shape

The poem is divided into four stanzas of different lengths, free rhythm and without rhymes. The lack of order expresses Sachs' helplessness towards the issues and the confusion of language itself. However, in each stanza the "peoples of the earth" are addressed anew, whereby a certain order is preserved. What is striking is the indent used very often by Nelly Sachs, which is also at the end of the fourth stanza and which Nelly Sachs uses to symbolize a “guide to the unsecured”.

Interpretative approach

“Peoples of the Earth” is about the abuse of language, which Nelly Sachs deals with in many of her works. In Kabbalah , a mystical tradition of Judaism, words mean life: In the second stanza of the poem, Sachs makes it clear that our existence depends directly on the ability to communicate. Finally, she calls for the “words at their source”, that is, to leave them in their true meaning so that they “[...] can move the horizons into the true heavens”, i. H. Can do good.

First version

In 1950 a first version of the poem was published in its sense and form . It says at the beginning:

Peoples of the earth
who
have stolen a few leaves and torn corollas from their secrets ,
the roots of your dying worlds are forever turned away.

However, this metaphor of nature did not fit the topic at all, it runs the risk of giving the impression of harmony, which could lead to far-reaching misunderstandings here. In addition, the language does not match the harsh tone of the rest of the poem, so this stanza was left out in the later version.

Web links

• "For Nelly Sachs", u. a. also poem text on the peoples of the earth ( memento from July 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )

swell

• Ulla Hahn (Ed.): Poems for memory. For learning inside out and saying by heart. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-421-05147-X .
• Birgit Lermen, Michael Braun: Nelly Sachs - "at the last breath of life". Bouvier, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-416-02805-8 .