Heute hat ein Gedicht mich wieder erschaffen: Origins of Poetic Identity in Rose Ausländer

Abstract

The development of Ausländer’s poetic identity is tracked by analyzing a distinctly Romantic aesthetic in her oeuvre. These aesthetics are placed into historical and literary context by examining the influence of other poets of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Heinrich Heine, Annette Droste-Hülshoff, Else Lasker-Schüler, and Rainer Maria Rilke on Ausländer. This analysis also reveals the strong affiliation of the poet to place and the appropriation of literary figures like the Loreley and Scheherazade.