SOURCE: "Georg Trakl and Egon Schiele: The Effects of Rimbaud on the Themes of Their Works," in Crossings—Kreuzungen, Camden House, 1990, pp. 154-63.

In the following excerpt, the author compares Rimbaud's and Trakl's alienation from the city and God in their work.

It is unclear just when and under what circumstances Georg Trakl first encountered Rimbaud, though it was probably late in 1911 or in 1912. He undoubtedly learned of Rimbaud's poetry, as critics such as Reinhold Grimm have pointed out, through K. L. Ammer, the pseudonym for Karl Klammer, an Austrian military officer who published the first German translations in 1907. This volume contained a cross-section of poems and an enthusiastic biographical sketch by Stefan Zweig. The translations of Rimbaud were freely interpreted by Klammer not only by his lack of precision in translating, but also by his choice of poems to be included. For this reason, it is important...