Consonant Repetition in the Lyric of Georg Trakl

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size NotesEmil Staiger, Grundbegriffe der Poetik (Zürich, 1959), p. 27.The illustrative material has been taken from the following poems, listed here—together with their abbreviated title designations—in the order in which they are quoted in the text. Some of these titles represent groups of poems; in the text, an Arabic numeral following an abbreviated title designation indicates the number of a poem in its group. The edition of Trakl used is Die Dichtungen, ed. Wolfgang Schneditz (Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag, 1938). TB Traum des Bösen; MA Melancholie des Abends; HF Heiterer Frühling; KK Kleines Konzert; JM Die junge Magd; VH Verklärter Herbst; GA Der Gewitterabend; MT Menschliche Trauer; F Die Verfluchten; SL Seele des Lebens; SS Die schöne Stadt; WD Winterdämmerung; H Im Herbst; SG Der Spaziergang; HS Herbstseele; AV An die Verstummten; V Verfall; HE Herbst des Einsamen.It is, at times, no small problem trying to decide what syllables bear the main metrical stress. For example, in the second line of this material (quoted from KK) the question could be raised whether “Kaum” or “hörst” constitute the main weight of the first metrical unit. I, personally, prefer “Kaum”; read in this way, we have a neatly balanced stanza with the rhythm introduced by “Kaum hörst du noch der Grillen Singen” repeated in “Einfältig schweigen goldene Wälder,” where stress anywhere except on the “Ein-” would sound peculiar. If, on the other hand, a reading of “Kaumhörst du noch” were preferred, it should be noted that the number of metrical units unrelated acoustically to other metrical units would be reduced by two–for we now would have a clearly recognizable repetition in “hörst” and “hartes.” I must mention, however, that the chances for survival of this /h/-repetition are increased considerably by the positional repetition of /r/ in these words—but positional repetitions of an internal or final sort, however interesting, are not being considered in this paper (notice also the positional repetition of /1/ in “gelbe,” “Grillen,” and “goldene”).It is unlikely that anyone would take exception to “steht” as the second stressed unit of this line—and is not Trakl, in his positional repetition of /št/, insisting on such a reading?.Quoted by Johannes Pfeiffer in Wege zur Dichtung (Hamburg, 1960), p. 47.Note the further positional correspondence between “Konturen” and “durch,” a repetition which lies outside the area of my investigation, but might, nevertheless, be mentioned here.Georg Trakl, Nachlaß und Biographie, ed. Wolfgang Schneditz (Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag, 1949), p. 16. A photo-reproduction of the manuscript of the poem under discussion is inserted, in the above volume, between pages 96 and 97.If we could recognize structural potential in single same-consonants, not positionally arranged, and separated by five metrical units, then the following pattern development in “Farbiger Herbst” would have to be considered. Of course, this would change the nature of our comparison significantly. Consonant Repetition in the Lyric of Georg TraklAll authorsKarl Magnusonhttps://doi.org/10.1080/19306962.1962.11787107Published online:28 December 2016Table Download CSVDisplay Table