The Thousandth Regiment - 30. "Hungering and without sleep for three long days"

This one makes me ache in my bones, it is so sad. The exhaustion, pain and hunger are palpable.  I can see the machine gun.. and the horrible resulting deaths.

Thank you, AC for bringing these to us, xo

Line by line, phrase by phrase, Hans completely destroys the myth of glorious war. His poems are as stark as any grim war reality. His frozen, mucky trenches harbored sudden death as much as a desert full of IED’s. He makes me feel more than the cold, hunger and bone aching weariness. I feel the pain of helplessness and futility that is also the soldier’s lot. I’ve said so before, but it bears respecting: this should be required reading. 

I will write a proper comment tomorrow. If I have to think about this Sonnet intense enough to write a comment now, I will not sleep tonight. So please excuse the delay, but as always I think you did outstanding work with the translation. Thank you for this. Muha

Every stanza of this sonnet seem to have a theme, which is very sensual and drags the reader directly into the situation, lets the reader feel. Over everything lies the exhaustion, the reduction to the bare needs. Again it seems like he is expecting to die soon. No young man should have to write things like this. And I think, Murnau is right when he said, Hans had written a diary for all soldiers.

I cannot imagine how Hans wrote under these circumstances. He must have been a very brave and determined man.  This sonnet is difficult and heartbreaking to read. He has painted a picture we cannot ignore. 

On 10/5/2019 at 12:27 PM, Mikiesboy said:

This one makes me ache in my bones, it is so sad. The exhaustion, pain and hunger are palpable.  I can see the machine gun.. and the horrible resulting deaths.

Thank you, AC for bringing these to us, xo

Thank you, Tim. This poem is a good example to study how Hans uses contrast. It contains pairs of lines that alternate between easy to see scene-painting and emotional (or more abstract) thinking. Like in these:

Here we are, stuck in a forest battle;

Where our pulse, which beats on so sluggishly,

---

Causing us to freeze like little children,

For soon we'll be stiff as artists' manikins

I've developed a theory that part of the total effectiveness of these poems comes from the interactions of such contrasts. Hans builds something like a literal current of electricity, a force generated as a wave alternating between the two poles. 

And yes, you are right, this is a horrible, horrifying poem 

On 10/5/2019 at 1:40 PM, Parker Owens said:

Line by line, phrase by phrase, Hans completely destroys the myth of glorious war. His poems are as stark as any grim war reality. His frozen, mucky trenches harbored sudden death as much as a desert full of IED’s. He makes me feel more than the cold, hunger and bone aching weariness. I feel the pain of helplessness and futility that is also the soldier’s lot. I’ve said so before, but it bears respecting: this should be required reading. 

Thank you, Parker. The climax of the series is occurring with these final poems. Hans' partner, Wilhelm Murnau, wrote the publisher that the poet himself set the order and finalized the collection for publication (revising several of the earlier ones to tell a complete story of a soldier's basic training through...well, you know). So line by line, phrase by phrase, Hans went over these slightly more than a month before he was killed at the front.

Thank you for reading these and leaving me your encouragement. It means a lot to me  

On 10/5/2019 at 1:46 PM, Lyssa said:

I will write a proper comment tomorrow. If I have to think about this Sonnet intense enough to write a comment now, I will not sleep tonight. So please excuse the delay, but as always I think you did outstanding work with the translation. Thank you for this. Muha

Every stanza of this sonnet seem to have a theme, which is very sensual and drags the reader directly into the situation, lets the reader feel. Over everything lies the exhaustion, the reduction to the bare needs. Again it seems like he is expecting to die soon. No young man should have to write things like this. And I think, Murnau is right when he said, Hans had written a diary for all soldiers.

Thank you, Lyssa. I have learned much in translating these. It seems like a total blessing that I have discovered this man's sonnets, and realize he writes them (for the most part) the way I do. You mention how every stanza seems to have a theme which intensifies the reader's experience. I agree, and I also marvel how time after time he's able to take my breath away (or make me break down) coming to the pivot point, starting with the final two stanzas. Discovering a meaning in some of what he writes has moved me in more ways than I can describe. A certain red butterfly and thoughts of his mother's bed linens...you know what I mean...

Thank you as always for your guidance and support. Muah

On 10/5/2019 at 4:35 PM, MichaelS36 said:

I cannot imagine how Hans wrote under these circumstances. He must have been a very brave and determined man.  This sonnet is difficult and heartbreaking to read. He has painted a picture we cannot ignore. 

Thank you, Mike. Hans will occasionally mention "the thrill of victory," but he never does so to glorify or gloat. With him, he's able to convey what an emotional relief it is to make it out of something alive. Many many people survived the war to feel the crushing weight of survivor's guilt. Ever the visionary, this too is something Hans addresses from an emotional POV, in one poem saying (paraphrase) "you who come later to kick our wounds...go back home and face your deeds". 

Thanks as always! I really appreciate your thoughts and support.