Liebe Sonne, liebe Erde

by Christian Morgenstern

24 pages

First published July 31, 2007

About the author

Christian Morgenstern (May 6, 1871–March 31, 1914) was a German author and poet.

Morgenstern's poetry, much of which was inspired by English literary nonsense, is immensely popular, even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime. He made fun of scholasticism, e.g. literary criticism in "Drei Hasen", grammar in "Der Werwolf", narrow-mindedness in "Der Gaul", and symbolism in "Der Wasseresel". In "Scholastikerprobleme" he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle. Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910):

For, he reasons pointedly / That which must not, can not be. (German: "Weil, so schließt er messerscharf / Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf.")

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet and poetic offering of short illustrated poems (well, actually, according to the author, they could also be labelled as songs) and one of my absolute favourites from when I was a child in Germany, Christian Morgenstern's Liebe Sonne, liebe Erde is a loving, glowing, tenderly caressisng (and sometimes actually also quite and intensely humorous) poetic and lyrical homage to the circle of life, the earth, the sun, the universe in general! And while the poems presented are, of course, penned and presented in German and thereforoe do require a certain amount of at least basic intermediate fluency, they are still and for the most part not overly complicated in set-up, style and thematics and as such also and definitely very much child friendly (with Elsa Eisgruber's quaint Jugendstil- like accompanying illustrations, which to and for me are actually rather reminiscent of Elsa Beskow and Sibylle von Olfers, providing a glowing and shining compliment of Christian Mogenstern's verses). Highly recommended, for both children and adults, for really anyone who appreciates sweet and slice of life poetry, verses that are both realistic and at the same time ethereal and intensely imaginative.

And like with most if not even all poetry collections, I do of course not enjoy all of the inclusions equally, but after now having finally located a reasonably priced hardback copy and having indeed reread each of the verses, I can and and do very much still and heartfully consider Liebe Sonne, Liebe Erde as a whole absolutely and exquisitely magical, stunning, evocative, with the author, with Christian Morgenstern so totally capturing the rhythms of life, of the universe, as well as both the joys and some of the potential sadnesses of life, of both childhood and also adulthood (and while I am not able and even all that willing to consider a favourite poem, a favourite selection, I will say that I have always absolutely loved in a sad yet hopeful manner, the final offering of Liebe Sonne, Liebe Erde, concerning a Christmas tree, which even though it ends up being burned for winter fuel post holiday celebration, is described as with hundreds of bright sparkles flaming upwards and onwards towards the sky, towards the heavens, towards God).