Auf der Straenbahn

1
Auf der Straßenbahn

• By Gerrit Engelke

Approaching German Culture, Year 1 Annabelle
Manus, Tracey Hickman, Laura Burchell and Nicola
Smart
2
Gerrit Engelke

• 1890-1918.
• Lived in Hanover.
• Poor background.
• His family left him when he was only 12 years of
  age.
• Considered as the German Wilfred Owen.
• Wrote first poem in 1910.
• He focused on cities and the world of work.
• He joined the army reluctantly.

3
Context

• Industrialisation.
• Increasing urbanisation. (Großstadt)
• In awe of technological advancements.
• Beginnings of the public suburban traffic in
  Hanover.
• Electricity
• Artists of all mediums responded to the
  development of the modern world.

4
Rough Translation On the Tram

• As the carriage turns the corner,
• As the bright rail tracks lie before it
• It rolls further, faster
• Under the floor the engines rattle,
• From the wires the sparks chatter.
• Keenly passing over lampposts, ladies
• fashions,
• Scene after scene, shop signs, the trot of
  horses,
• steps of people-
• The floor of the carriage rolls and sways,
• My senses roll and sway as well!
• Full power! Full power!
• The whole carriage, with the people inside,
• Buzzes and hums and sings with my senses.
• The singing of the carriage roars, it swells!
• Suddenly it shrills
• The bell!-

5
Discuss the following statementThis poem is an
exploration of the tortured psychology of the
individual attempting to confront the
dislocations of the modern world.
We disagree with this statement because of the
following reasons
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Themes

• Link to other artistic forms (singen, Bild,
  walzen, knattern).
• Intrigue/curiosity in technology.
• Acknowledgement of the masses and of the
  individual.
• Harmony between man and technology.
• Last sentence sense of journey, enlightenment
  and of the ever-evolving world around him.

7
Style

• The style conveys a dislocation of the world in a
  positive sense dynamic, spontaneous, alive.
• Repetition of walzen and Wagen emphasises the
  continuation of the rhythm of the journey.
• Use of Funken alone to highlight magical
  trait/aspect.
• Repetitive/disjointed use of punctuation conveys
  the overwhelming sensation of the experience.
• Alliteration of s portrays a sense of the
  buzzing on the tram.
• Climax of poem Voller Strom! Voller Strom,
  emphasises the enormous power.
• Poem picks up momentum, reflecting the motion of
  the tram, through terminology Stärker,
  schneller then Voller Strom! Voller Strom but
  also through structure. I.e. increasing number of
  lines per stanza as the poem develops.

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Effect on Reader

• Share excitement of poet.
• Identify with feelings of novel experience.
• Subjective experience.
• Feeling of fulfilment/accomplishment.