concept
Psalm
also: Psalm form
The Hebrew psalm is a liturgical poem of praise, lament, or petition; here it designates Trakl's own poem in section 39 of Gedichte, which adopts the anaphoric 'There is...' litany of lamentation. The form intensifies the biblical resonance of Trakl's catalogue of desolation.
Reading notes
- Poems §39 Psalm
The Hebrew psalm is a sacred song or poem of praise, lamentation, or petition from the Biblical Psalter. Trakl's secular Psalm appropriates the form's direct address to an absent or hidden God to voice Expressionist desolation.