Contrasting the Theme of Alienation in the German Poetry of Goethe and Brecht — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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Contrasting the Theme of Alienation in the German Poetry of Goethe and Brecht

Name: Erin Ritchie
Major: German
Hometown: Lombard
Faculty Sponsor: Gregory Baer
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

In my study, I compare two German poets, Bertolt Brecht and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and examine their different techniques of achieving the effect of reader alienation. I analyze three to five works each of Goethe and Brecht’s poetry and look at the way in which the words cause the reader to feel estranged. Such estrangement can be seen through the use of confusing changes in patterns of a poem or things within the poem which contradict each other. Many people have analyzed certain pieces of poetry from Goethe and Brecht extensively, but a comparison of the way the two have represented estrangement or alienation has not yet been made.My contention is that alienation in Goethe's poems is based in the realm of internalized feelings and confusion, which allows the reader to separate her logical mind from that which is innate, and therefore allows the reader to rediscover objects and situations in a new light. The alienation in Brecht’s poetry, however, is based in the realm of cold, hard, facts, allowing no room for internal feelings, but rather forcing the reader to see objects and situations in a new light based on logic and outside criticism of the world.

Poster file