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Theodor Storm

Theodor Storm (September 14, 1817 in Husum, Germany - July 4, 1888 in Hademarschen[?], Germany) studied and practiced law in northern Germany. He also wrote a number of stories, poems and novellas. His two most well-known works are the novellas Immensee (1849) and Der Schimmelreiter (1888). Other published works include a volume of his poems (1852), the novella Pole Poppenspäler (1874) and the novella Aquis submersus (1877).

Analysis

Theodor Storm, like Friedrich Hebbel[?], is a child of the North Sea Plain; but while in Hebbel's verse there is hardly any direct reference to his native landscape, Storm again and again sings its chaste beauty; and while Hebbel could find a home away from his native heath, Storm clung to it with a jealous love.

He was born in Husum ('die graue Stadt am grauen Meer') on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein of well-to-do parents. While still a student of law, he published a first volume of verse together with the brothers Tycho and Theodor Mommsen.

His favorite poets were Eichendorff[?] and Mörike[?], and the influence of the former is plainly discernible even in Storm's later verse. Storm left his home in 1851 and did not return until 1864, after Schleswig-Holstein had become German.

Samples

Die Stadt	The town
Am grauen Strand, am grauen Meer	On grizzly beach, on grizzly sea
Und seitab liegt die Stadt;	An sideways is the town;
De Nebel drückt die Dächer schwer,	The roofs depress'd by fog
Und durch die Stille braust das Meer	And through the quiet hisses sea
Eintönig um die Stadt.	Dully around the town.

Es rauscht kein Wald, es schlägt im Mai	No forrest sounds, no bird sings
Kein Vogel ohn' Unterlaß;	In May without interuption;
Die Wandergans mit hartem Schrei	The roaming goose with loud cry
Nur fliegt in Herbstesnacht vorbei,	Only in fall's night flies by,
Am Strande weht das Gras.	At the beach blows the grass.

Doch hängt mein ganzes Herz an dir,	Still clings whole my heart to you,
Du graue Stadt am Meer;	You grey town on the sea;
Der Jugend Zauber für und für	The youth magic forever
Ruht lächelnd doch auf dir, auf dir,	Rests laughing still on you, on you,
Du graue Stadt am Meer.	You grey town on the sea.

(Analysis and original text of the poem from A Book of German Lyrics, ed. Friedrich Bruns, which is currently being proofed for Project Gutenberg.)

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