Galgenlieder by Christian Morgenstern
Having recently posted my own translation of a nonsensical German poem, I felt I should share the work of a true master. Max Knight was an Austrian-born writer who would today be 102 years; by the time of his death in 1993 he had translated works by Bertold Brecht, Ogden Nash, Karl Kraus and others, but the translations I know him for are those of Christian Morgenstern's Galgenlieder. I would call them nonsense poems if not for the fact that Morgenstern himself asked, "One thing I beg of you. Should the terms 'nonsense' or 'gibberish' be included in the review - no matter how flattering the qualifying adjectives might be - kindly reconsider them in favor of something like 'folly' or 'craziness'." How could I deny such an entreaty?
You can find a few of these poems (in original German and English translation) here, and I highly recommend the full edition containing over 90 translated poems, all of which are delightful. Simply google "Galgenlieder a selection" to find the book.
Below I have added the poem that brought Max Knight to my attention! (The poem my father left in the comments section below is also worth a read, and "Der Werwolf" was brilliantly translated into English as "The Banshee".)
