Poems-catalogues in the poetry of H. M. Enzensberger

Abstract

The article analyses the types of cataloguing and various sub-genres of the catalog in the poetry of the German poet, playwright and prose writer H. M. Enzensberger (1929–2022). The poet’s collections of 1957–2013 were anilysed. The article traces such methods of cataloguing lyrical material as a name indicating cataloguing, a series of baroque metaphors in Enzensberger’s catalogue poems, an arbitrary enumeration as an example of the illogicality of phenomena/ actions, anaphoric repetitions of personal pronouns as a way of organizing a lyrical catalogue, dialogue as a method of lyrical cataloguing, a cumulative effect in catalogue poems. It is shown how stylistic devices (repetition, gradation, cumulation, climax, anaphora, etc.) determine the structure of the text. Such sub-genres of the catalogue as inventory, emblemmystery, dialogue, poems about the seasons and days, laudatory song, testament, poetological catalogue are considered. Enzensberger relies on the German and European tradition in the use of genres, which goes back both to the culture of the ancient world and to folk art (incantations, songs, laments, dialogues), where the descriptive and enumerative nature of the text is manifested, which determines its structure. The lyrical catalogue is also akin to religious poems, in which nominalization prevailed, that goes back both to the culture of the ancient world and to folk art, where the descriptive and enumerative nature of the text is manifested, which determines its structure.