"Nur zwei Dinge" is a poem by the German poet Gottfried Benn. It is dated 7 January 1953 and was first published in the Frankfurt edition of the Neue Zeitung on 26 March 1953. In May of the same year, it appeared in Benn's collection of poems Destillationen. The last volume published by Benn himself, the Collected Poems from 1956, the year of his death, concludes with Only Two Things before the lyrical Epilogue.
The poem looks back on a life in a you-speech, poses the question of meaning and finds the answer in enduring the predetermined. After the insight into general transience, the poem concludes with a juxtaposition of emptiness and the drawn self. In contrast to the abstract, nihilistic statements is the closed and catchy form of the poem, which is characterized by traditional stylistic devices. The cipher-like formulas allow for ambiguous interpretations. "Nur zwei Dinge" is one of Gottfried Benn's most popular poems and has also been understood as his personal life balance.
Contents
The first verse of the three-stanza poemThe full text can be viewed online, for example in the following article: Stefanie Golisch: Möblierter Herr. Gottfried Benn und Leopoldo María Panero: Nur zwei Dinge. On poetenladen.de, June 21, 2006. reads: „Through so many forms, through I and we and you, but everything was still suffering from the eternal question: what for?"
This is described as a child's question. It was only late in the day that the you of the poem realized what had to be endured in life:
„your distant destiny: You must."
In view of the general transience, for which roses, snow and oceans are mentioned as examples, the conclusion remains: „There are only two things: emptiness and the drawn self."Gottfried Benn: "Nur zwei Dinge." In: Sämtliche Werke. Band I. Gedichte 1. Stuttgarter Ausgabe, herausgegeben von Gerhard Schuster. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-95313-2, S. 320.
Form Structure of the poem Verse MetricNach Fred Lönker: Gottfried Benn. 10 Gedichte. p. 139. Reim 1 υ – υ – υ υ – υ a 2 υ – υ – υ – b 3 υ – υ – υ – υ a 4 υ υ – υ υ – υ υ – b 5 υ – υ υ – υ – υ c 6 υ – υ υ – υ – d 7 υ – υ – υ υ – υ c 8 υ – υ – υ – υ c 9 υ – υ – υ υ – d 10 υ – υ υ – υ – υ e 11 υ – υ υ – υ υ – f 12 υ – υ υ – υ υ – υ e 13 – υ υ – υ υ – f – : stressed syllable υ : unstressed syllable
The poem consists of three verses. The four verses of the two outer stanzas are in cross rhyme and end alternately with a raising or lowering. The inner stanza is extended to five verses by means of an additional couple rhyme.Mario Leis: Gottfried Benn. Gedichte. Lektüreschlüssel. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-015410-6, p. 59. Due to the insertion as parenthesis, the eighth verse falls out of the poem, which could just as easily be read without it. According to Gisbert Hoffmann, the effect of the additional line is a ritardando, a delay in the end of the stanza. At the same time, it reinforces the previous verse 7, "there is only one thing: endure", and makes it the focal point of the poem. Benn repeatedly used the stylistic device of an additional verse in individual stanzas in his work; two of his poems consist entirely of five-line stanzas. Hoffmann explained the restless effect of the metre of "Nur zwei Dinge" with the varying number of syllables per verse as well as the irregular and unexpectedly distributed Versfüßen.Gisbert Hoffmann: Vergänglichkeit und Dauer. p. 67–69. The verses, all of which have three iambic forms, consist of different combinations of iambs and dactyls, with the exception of the purely iambic verses 2, 3 and 8, verse 4, which is made up of anapaests, and the final verse 13, which is the only one to begin with an iamb and thus accentuates the final formula.Fred Lönker: Gottfried Benn. 10 Gedichte. p. 139. However, deviating scansion is also possible, according to which, for example, verse 4 begins emphatically, while verse 13 begins unstressed, thus repeating the pattern of verse 9.Gisbert Hoffmann: Vergänglichkeit und Dauer. p. 68.
While the first stanza of the poem still lacks any subject, from the second stanza onwards it is replaced by a "you" address. This can be understood as a monologue self-address, but Kaspar H. Spinner pointed out that the statements are spoken from a higher consciousness to the you. The "you" form elevates the verses beyond an identification of the author as speaker, giving the poem an autonomy in the instance of statement. While the "you" takes on the role of the lyrical I, the "I" as substantivized pronoun to object, in the last verse even with article and adjective.Kaspar H. Spinner: Zur Struktur des lyrischen Ich.Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-7997-0253-9, p. 144–147. Gernot Böhme and Gisbert Hoffmann saw a splitting of the ego into an early and a late ego. The latter turns to its earlier consciousness, its biographical self, on the basis of acquired knowledge.Gernot Böhme und Gisbert Hoffmann: Einleitung: Existentielle Interpretationen In: Gernot Böhme, Gisbert Hoffmann: Benn und wir. Existentielle Interpretationen zu Gedichten von Gottfried Benn. Xenomoi, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-936532-81-4, S. 26–27. According to Ulrike Draesner, this "I-you circle" invites the reader to "join in the rondo of speaking and being spoken to" by opening up a level of communication that is otherwise reserved for intimate conversations with oneself.Ulrike Draesner: Kleines Gespenst. Gedanken zum lyrischen Ich. In: Jan Bürger (Hrsg.): Ich bin nicht innerlich. Annäherungen an Gottfried Benn. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-608-93621-1, p. 26.
Theo Meyer emphasized the contrast between the open question and the definitive answers of the poem, which shows a tendency towards generalization and thesisness. The first two stanzas in particular consist exclusively of abstract statements without any pictorial element. A historical-actual reference is also completely hidden.Theo Meyer: Kunstproblematik und Wortkombinatorik bei Gottfried Benn. p. 342. However, Hans-Martin Gauger saw the abstraction through rhyme and rhythm as "rhetorically rushing". The sentence structure is hypotactic, the "linguistic pomp" creates a "high tone".Hans-Martin Gauger: Hoher Stil als eskalierende Schriftlichkeit. Gottfried Benn: „Restaurant" und „Nur zwei Dinge". In: Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. Jahrbuch 1996. Wallstein, Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3-89244-252-5, p. 124–125. According to Achim Geisenhanslüke, the structure of the poem adopts a traditional song form.Achim Geisenhanslüke: Energie der Zeichen. Zur Tradition artistischer Lyrik bei Gottfried Benn, Paul Celan, Thomas Kling und Marcel Beyer. In: literatur für leser 25, Heft 1/2002, p. 12. Jürgen Schröder described a "parlando-like poetry", which formed a contrast to the "apodictic content". The soft tone of the poem is evoked by assonance, alliterations and anaphoras. For example, the first six verses begin with the letter D, which is taken up again at the end of the last two verses. Other recurring stylistic devices are the sequence of three nouns in each stanza, the colon used several times to intensify, and the enjambment of the concluding verses. According to Schröder, the result is a rhythmic ascent and descent of each individual verse, as well as a cycle from the beginning to the end of the poem, which rounds from the "I" of the second to the "I" of the last verse. Overall, the lyrical means lend "Nur zwei Dinge" a strong suggestiveness that entices the reader to identify with the radical content statements.Jürgen Schröder: Destillierte Geschichte. Zu Gottfried Benns Gedicht Nur zwei Dinge. p. 20–22. For Helmuth Kiesel, the rhyme in particular had a superficial effect in the sense of "softening and making digestible" the disillusioning content, but it also sent a subliminal counter-message of beauty.Helmuth Kiesel: Reim als Botschaft. In: Marcel Reich-Ranicki (Hrsg.): Hundert Gedichte des Jahrhunderts. Insel, ISBN 3-458-17012-X, Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 122–123.
Interpretation
According to Hermann Korte, despite the poem's direct formulations, it is not possible to clearly decipher its content. Although the theme can be narrowed down with the terms transience, futility and loneliness, the verses are made up of ambiguous ciphers that do not fully reveal their meaning. The recourse to principles of reduction and laconicism show hermetic tendencies.Hermann Korte: Lyrik von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart. Oldenbourg, München 2000, ISBN 3-637-88681-2, p. 51–52. For Dieter Liewerscheidt, "Nur zwei Dinge" was characterized equally by semantic openness as well as syntactic vagueness. The ciphered short formulas and blank spaces of the poem invite reception aesthetics, the general allusions and the different interpretability of the terms allow a "sympathetic resonance of the reader" in the basic mood of Weltschmerz.Dieter Liewerscheidt: Gottfried Benns Lyrik. Eine kritische Einführung. Oldenbourg, München 1980, ISBN 3-486-17721-4, p. 65.
"Stepped through so many forms"
Edith A. Runge, one of the earliest interpreters of "Nur zwei Dinge", saw "the sum of existence" in the poem, with the very first line expressing resignation, insignificance and transience. She interpreted the forms "I", "we" and "you" as the self, the community and the other.Edith A. Runge: Gottfried Benns „Nur zwei Dinge". p. 343–344. For Gisbert Hoffmann, on the other hand, the three personal pronouns symbolized a life path through different stages of existence,Gisbert Hoffmann: Vergänglichkeit und Dauer. p. 56. similar to Helmuth Kiesel, who started from past attempts at a fulfilled life through individualism, collectivism and partnership.Helmuth Kiesel: Reim als Botschaft. p. 122. Jürgen Schröder explained the stadiums in historical terms: according to this, the "We" stands for the year 1933 and thus for Benn's own involvement in National Socialism.Jürgen Schröder: Destillierte Geschichte. Zu Gottfried Benns Gedicht Nur zwei Dinge. p. 27.
Friederike Reents pursued a completely different approach. According to her interpretation, Benn progressed as a poet through literary forms, through poetry, prose and essay, in order to create the completed poem at the end, in which form and poetics are fulfilled. In this respect, the "emptiness" and the "drawn ego" do not represent nihilistic resignation for her in the end, but rather the poet's belief that he can create something imperishable out of nothing through art.Friederike Reents: Nur zwei Dinge – Zur Doppelsichtigkeit des lyrischen Ichs. In: Friederike Reents (Hrsg.): Gottfried Benns Modernität. Wallstein, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0151-1, p. 75–88. Jürgen Egyptien established a connection between aesthetic forms in the first verse and social relationships in the second verse,Jürgen Egyptien: Entwicklungslinien in Gottfried Benns Lyrik und Poetik 1920 bis 1956. In: Dieter Burdorf (Hrsg.): Liebender Streit. Else Lasker-Schüler und Gottfried Benn.Institute for Church and Society, Iserlohn 2002, ISBN 3-931845-60-5, p. 86. while for Hans Bryner, both verses combine existential and linguistic forms and create a connection between life and writing: For the poet Benn, it was about shaping life through writing.Hans Bryner: Das Rosenmotiv in Gottfried Benns Lyrik. Skizzen zu Bild und Bau. p. 120.
"the eternal question: what for?"