Gottfried Benn's Static Poetry: Aesthetic and Intellectual-Historical Interpretations

This book consists of close readings of four poems illustrating Gottfried Benn’s developing conception of stillness or stasis: Trunkene Flut (1927), Wer allein ist — (1936), Statische Gedichte (1944), and Reisen (1950). Mark Roche pays particular attention to the interrelation of form and content, and he uncovers previously overlooked allusions to thinkers such as Aristotle, Seneca, and Meister Eckhart.

Benn’s supposedly pure poetry of stasis is in reality an expression of opposition to naz...