SOURCE: "Flaming Signals on Dark Waters: Meyer's Poetry" in Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Twayne Publishers, 1978, pp. 95-122.

In the essay that follows, Burkhard discusses Meyer's careful experimentation with poetic structure, particularly in his aesthetic treatment of death.

For all his extensive work in prose since 1872, Meyer was far from neglecting his poetry which, for long, had been his prime endeavor. And it is in poetry that, after an arduous working process, he was to reach his most innovative accomplishments. Letters and manuscripts of the 1870s reveal continuous work on poems which were published individually or in small groups in several poetry journals. For years, Meyer and Haessel could not agree on the terms for a poetry collection which Meyer had proposed as early as 1873 (W, II, 8-10). Thus, the preparation of such a collection—simply entitled Gedichte (Poems)—in 1881-1882 meant for him the realization of a cherished plan...