SOURCE: Cohen, J. M. “The Vision of Apocalypse.” In Poetry of This Age: 1908-1958, pp. 105-06. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1960.

In the following excerpt from his discussion of German Expressionism, Cohen describes Stramm's poetic style as concentrated and direct.

The prime aim of Expressionism was to write powerfully of matters within the experience of the majority. It was, in fact, an attempt to reverse the esoteric drift of Symbolism. For this it had to break more violently with the German poetic tradition than Rilke or George, who had merely assimilated French influences. The Expressionists found it necessary to sacrifice the whole stiff syntax of their language. August Stramm (1874-1915), the most extreme of them, evolved a concentrated style that recalls that of the Imagists who were working on more peaceful themes at the same time in Britain and America.

Stramm's simple intention is to communicate the sights, sounds and...