â busy â skinny
The pipe at the border was a place for robbers. This is where they brought their booty, since the path was not busy. In the moonlight, the figures appeared skinny.
Pretzel â feather 1 â pause â lament â doohickey
Time curves like a pretzel through nature. The feather paints the landscape and, if there is a pause, then it is filled with rain. One hears a lament because there is no doohickey.
â
Translated by Esther Leslie .
First published in Die Literarische Welt , 3 December 1926; Gesammelte Schriften IV , 802â3.
CHAPTER 34
Wall Calendar from Die
literarische Welt for 1927
Flower Family V (Blumenfamilie V) , 1922.
Wall calendar from Die literarische Welt , 1927, from which these verses were taken
Verses by Walter Benjamin Drawings by Rudolf Grossmann
JANUARY
The year 1927 is announced
In tones to be heard in North and South
(and in Free City Danzig).
For German readers of this almanac
Aquarius is the sign of the zodiac. 1
FEBRUARY
Next the month of February
Presents the fishesâ canopy.
S. Fischer though lives here on earth
And offers you his peace for all it is worth. 2
MARCH
The Querschnitt mag is cheap basically,
Springtime 3 creeps up only reluctantly.
To the joy of every good snob
Both are ruled by Wedderkop. 4
APRIL
April is the month of the bull,
But Grossmann wonât draw one at all.
(Probably a result of some complex)
So here instead is Fridericus Rex. 5
MAY
Laurels are usually evergreens,
Writers squirt out thoughts as streams.
For the twins in May
It doesnât matter either way.
JUNE
The June animal, beloved of the Pen-Club member,
Is right here â the crab â on the agenda.
But who, you might ask, is that nought?
It is Ludwig Fulda and none ought. 6
JULY
Bab is essentially the name of July
(the lion growls and says bye-bye).
Many a lion with polemics to deliver
Belongs to Neustadt on the Dosse River. 7
AUGUST
Prague, which usually in August is bare,
Today bakes fresh bread from cornfields there â
Authors who all too quickly give in
Result from the sign of the zodiac which is the virgin. 8
SEPTEMBER
September â
Libra or scale is the astrological sign
The question being â
Filth or grime,
Let us weigh it up quite precisely
Lulu or Gneisenau â which will it be? 9
OCTOBER
Scorpio stings from his rump
Head-on, Siegfried Jacobsohn delivered his thump.
October lets us him revere
With Sternheimâs astral-premieres. 10
NOVEMBER
The man in November with arrow and bow,
is called Arno Holz. Heaven does not know
Becker, who is his rival.
Herr Külz has a tricky pedestal. 11
DECEMBER
Quite badly crumpled is his beard,
Through which the purrs of the poet are heard,
Still (if as pacifist, he is inadmissible)
He remains, as a Capricorn, quite permissible.
â
Translated by Esther Leslie .
First published in Die literarische Welt , 24 December 1926; Gesammelte Schriften VI , 545â7.
CHAPTER 35
Riddles
Watchful Angel (Wachsamer Engel) , 1939.
The Strangerâs Reply
S ome of our readers have perhaps already heard the joke which the ancient Greek Sophists (a school of philosophy) invented in order to demonstrate the complexity of human thinking. The joke is called âThe Cretanâ, because in it appears a man from the island of Crete, who proposes two statements. Firstly: all Cretans are liars. Secondly: I am a Cretan. So now what should we believe about the man? If he is a Cretan, then he is lying and is (because he maintained that he was one) not one. If he is not a Cretan, then he spoke the truth andso is one. It is not clearly evident from this little joke that a debate developed in relation to it, in which significant minds have participated up until our day. One of the last ones to occupy himself with this question is the Englishman Bertrand Russell, who is still alive and who devised a whole number of such puzzle questions, which are
The pipe at the border was a place for robbers. This is where they brought their booty, since the path was not busy. In the moonlight, the figures appeared skinny.
Pretzel â feather 1 â pause â lament â doohickey
Time curves like a pretzel through nature. The feather paints the landscape and, if there is a pause, then it is filled with rain. One hears a lament because there is no doohickey.
â
Translated by Esther Leslie .
First published in Die Literarische Welt , 3 December 1926; Gesammelte Schriften IV , 802â3.
CHAPTER 34
Wall Calendar from Die
literarische Welt for 1927
Flower Family V (Blumenfamilie V) , 1922.
Wall calendar from Die literarische Welt , 1927, from which these verses were taken
Verses by Walter Benjamin Drawings by Rudolf Grossmann
JANUARY
The year 1927 is announced
In tones to be heard in North and South
(and in Free City Danzig).
For German readers of this almanac
Aquarius is the sign of the zodiac. 1
FEBRUARY
Next the month of February
Presents the fishesâ canopy.
S. Fischer though lives here on earth
And offers you his peace for all it is worth. 2
MARCH
The Querschnitt mag is cheap basically,
Springtime 3 creeps up only reluctantly.
To the joy of every good snob
Both are ruled by Wedderkop. 4
APRIL
April is the month of the bull,
But Grossmann wonât draw one at all.
(Probably a result of some complex)
So here instead is Fridericus Rex. 5
MAY
Laurels are usually evergreens,
Writers squirt out thoughts as streams.
For the twins in May
It doesnât matter either way.
JUNE
The June animal, beloved of the Pen-Club member,
Is right here â the crab â on the agenda.
But who, you might ask, is that nought?
It is Ludwig Fulda and none ought. 6
JULY
Bab is essentially the name of July
(the lion growls and says bye-bye).
Many a lion with polemics to deliver
Belongs to Neustadt on the Dosse River. 7
AUGUST
Prague, which usually in August is bare,
Today bakes fresh bread from cornfields there â
Authors who all too quickly give in
Result from the sign of the zodiac which is the virgin. 8
SEPTEMBER
September â
Libra or scale is the astrological sign
The question being â
Filth or grime,
Let us weigh it up quite precisely
Lulu or Gneisenau â which will it be? 9
OCTOBER
Scorpio stings from his rump
Head-on, Siegfried Jacobsohn delivered his thump.
October lets us him revere
With Sternheimâs astral-premieres. 10
NOVEMBER
The man in November with arrow and bow,
is called Arno Holz. Heaven does not know
Becker, who is his rival.
Herr Külz has a tricky pedestal. 11
DECEMBER
Quite badly crumpled is his beard,
Through which the purrs of the poet are heard,
Still (if as pacifist, he is inadmissible)
He remains, as a Capricorn, quite permissible.
â
Translated by Esther Leslie .
First published in Die literarische Welt , 24 December 1926; Gesammelte Schriften VI , 545â7.
CHAPTER 35
Riddles
Watchful Angel (Wachsamer Engel) , 1939.
The Strangerâs Reply
S ome of our readers have perhaps already heard the joke which the ancient Greek Sophists (a school of philosophy) invented in order to demonstrate the complexity of human thinking. The joke is called âThe Cretanâ, because in it appears a man from the island of Crete, who proposes two statements. Firstly: all Cretans are liars. Secondly: I am a Cretan. So now what should we believe about the man? If he is a Cretan, then he is lying and is (because he maintained that he was one) not one. If he is not a Cretan, then he spoke the truth andso is one. It is not clearly evident from this little joke that a debate developed in relation to it, in which significant minds have participated up until our day. One of the last ones to occupy himself with this question is the Englishman Bertrand Russell, who is still alive and who devised a whole number of such puzzle questions, which are
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