SOURCE: “A Renaissance of German Poetry: Gottfried Benn,” in Modern Language Forum, Vol. 39, No. 2, December, 1954, pp. 115-25.

In the following essay, Seyppel discusses Benn's place in the history of German poetry, focusing on the poet's “trance-poetry,” which addresses metaphysical concerns and the irrational mind.

When the delicate question “What is important in contemporary German literature?” is raised, two names immediately come to mind: Ernst Jünger and Gottfried Benn. They were prominent even before World War II. While Ernst Jünger, the prose writer, represented the more traditional, “classical,” formalistic literary style, the lyricist Gottfried Benn was classed as an early Expressionist of the era before World War I. The younger generation, born after that war, did not know him at all. But after the second collapse of the German state, Benn came back with matured, richer, and more powerful poetry carrying German literature to an anti-rationalistic and...