Presenza e poesia in Gottfried Benn

Abstract

In this article, the Author intends to show how the German poet Gottfried Benn addressed the issue of the poetical “quality” of man’s existence in relation to the notions of time and presence. The Author examines a number of lectures that Benn gave in the timespan ranging from Weimar Germany to the period following World War II. The Author’s analysis focuses on some particularly illustrative theoretical passages where Benn, while speculating on the meaning of the German and European expressionist movement, outlined an interpretative horizon of both poetry and poet that offers an original approach to the contemplation on the notion of “presence”.