Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
annehmen
English translation:
adopts/assumes/takes a gentle/soft violence
Added to glossary by
Helen Shiner
Jul 24, 2017 09:58
6 yrs ago
4 viewers *
German term
annehmen
German to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
dann nimmt das Land eine sanfte Gewalt an
What does "annehmen" mean in this sentence?
This is from something Peter Huchel wrote in 1932.
What does "annehmen" mean in this sentence?
This is from something Peter Huchel wrote in 1932.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +4 | adopts/assumes/takes a gentle/soft violence |
Helen Shiner
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| 3 +3 | gently reminds you of its elemental power |
Björn Vrooman
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Change log
Aug 19, 2017 12:41: Helen Shiner Created KOG entry
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:
Non-PRO (1): philgoddard
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Proposed translations
+4
1 hr
Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Arts/Academic translator - Art historian
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
139
Selected
adopts/assumes/takes a gentle/soft violence
becomes softly violent
Some suggestions. Blue-green algae is pretty toxic to animals. It appears suddenly at a certain time of year, and although pretty in some lights, it is a bit threatening. Anyway, this is how I read it, in as far as one can without comprehending the repeated veiled hints at threats in this book.
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Note added at 1 hr (2017-07-24 11:39:30 GMT)
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That should be 'takes on'.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:45:50 GMT)
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I have retained the word 'violence', because, having answered several of your questions, and thus seen several passages from this book, it strikes me that the author likes dissonance. By this I mean, sudden use of striking words that jar with the rest of the rather poetic text.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:46:31 GMT)
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Excuse comma in the wrong place.
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Note added at 1 day22 hrs (2017-07-26 08:30:59 GMT)
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Dissonance is a literary device, indeed it is used in many other contexts, too, used to jolt the reader, possibly shock them. It was very prevalent in the arts in Germany at this time, in literature, music, and the visual arts. Using a description of the landscape to suggest threat or violence of a political nature had been done many times from Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities to Anna Seghers. Maybe that's what Huchel's doing here; it's 1932 and there were signs of encroaching violence everywhere in Germany by then. He went on to fight for the Nazi regime though. Maybe he just wanted to find a way of describing the threat that blue-green algae suddenly forming on a body of water represents.
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Note added at 2 days5 hrs (2017-07-26 15:10:05 GMT)
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Blue-green algae: http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/caringfor/policies/algae
Some suggestions. Blue-green algae is pretty toxic to animals. It appears suddenly at a certain time of year, and although pretty in some lights, it is a bit threatening. Anyway, this is how I read it, in as far as one can without comprehending the repeated veiled hints at threats in this book.
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Note added at 1 hr (2017-07-24 11:39:30 GMT)
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That should be 'takes on'.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:45:50 GMT)
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I have retained the word 'violence', because, having answered several of your questions, and thus seen several passages from this book, it strikes me that the author likes dissonance. By this I mean, sudden use of striking words that jar with the rest of the rather poetic text.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2017-07-24 12:46:31 GMT)
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Excuse comma in the wrong place.
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Note added at 1 day22 hrs (2017-07-26 08:30:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Dissonance is a literary device, indeed it is used in many other contexts, too, used to jolt the reader, possibly shock them. It was very prevalent in the arts in Germany at this time, in literature, music, and the visual arts. Using a description of the landscape to suggest threat or violence of a political nature had been done many times from Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities to Anna Seghers. Maybe that's what Huchel's doing here; it's 1932 and there were signs of encroaching violence everywhere in Germany by then. He went on to fight for the Nazi regime though. Maybe he just wanted to find a way of describing the threat that blue-green algae suddenly forming on a body of water represents.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days5 hrs (2017-07-26 15:10:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Blue-green algae: http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/caringfor/policies/algae
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
philgoddard
1 min
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Thanks, Phil.
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| agree |
milinad
1 hr
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Thanks, milinad
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| agree |
gangels (X)
4 hrs
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Thanks, gangels
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| agree |
Harald 4711
: Lyrik ist oft schwierig. Wenn es möglich ist, Mehrdeutigkeiten über die Sprachgrenze zu erhalten und dem Leser die Interpretation zu überlassen, ist es gut.
11 hrs
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Danke, Harald; finde ich auch.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+3
1 day 7 hrs
gently reminds you of its elemental power
As posted in the discussion box:
"(gehoben) elementare Kraft von zwingender Wirkung"
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Gewalt
Naturgewalt(en) = force(s) of nature / elemental force(s) / elemental power(s)
Cf
"It can be so peaceful, then the river reminds you of its strength and your heart pounds with excitement."
https://conservationphotographers.org/1frame4nature-art-wolf...
+
https://views.austria.info/de/category/text/72#!/11103
+
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elemental-Power-Celtic-Druidic-Llew...
Here’s another poem, this time about the “sanfte Gewalt” of a tree:
“was selbst die Kriege nicht geschafft, das vollbringt die Birke mit sanfter Gewalt und macht auch vor Menschenwerk nicht halt.“
http://www.kirchbrak.de/chronik/gelbehefte/heft19/kap1923.ht...
We can argue about the position of "gently" in the sentence above, but in my humble opinion, you cannot translate this literally, and I think you should be aware of the period in which the poem was written. This is the 1930s. It’s neo-romanticism (at least, in Germany):
"Artists such as John Piper and Graham Sutherland turned to a traditional means of representation in the wake of the unprecedented damage and loss of life. Like the first Romantics, they drew upon a wide range of literary sources, whilst nature was considered to be an elemental force capable of inspiring sublime emotional reaction."
http://www.pallant.org.uk/docs/phg_keith_vaughan__teaching_n...
You’d think about Dylan Thomas, Robert Louis Stevenson and others (even if their works had been published earlier). It's "naturmagisch"--supernatural, magical, enchanted, or even awe-inspiring--not a violent episode (“Zauber”):
"What was produced, intentionally or otherwise was a veneration of the romantic past and the cultivation of a supernatural, idealistic or even prophetic sense of the British landscape together with a yearning for beauty and innocence, that in all conveyed an arcadian existence."
http://www.artbiogs.co.uk/2/movements/neo-romanticism
This one is “not shrouded in a veil of romanticism,” but it’s a good example for comparison:
http://www.campdengallery.co.uk/catalogues/jshearer.pdf
It may even sound “bombastic,” but not really threatening:
https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/autumn_fires_7667
Additionally, Huchel drew on his childhood memories for the rest of his life [which is where "reminds you of" comes in]:
"Das lyrische Werk Huchels ist wie kein anderes mit der Landschaft und den Bewohnern der Mark Brandenburg verbunden. Das trifft nicht nur für die naturmagischen Gedichte seines Frühwerks zu [...]"
http://www.peter-huchel-haus.de/Peter Huchel
Be aware, though, that this was written before WWII. AFAIK, Huchel did become “gloomier” later in life because of his works being used by the Nazis for their own purposes and his time spent in the German Democratic Republic.
You also need to take the next sentence into account. It describes the beauty of that landscape. Nature may be a "harsh mistress," as one translator of Huchel's works calls it, but I'd take this statement with a grain of salt in this context.
More tags: raw/relentless/subtle/sublime/unyielding
"(gehoben) elementare Kraft von zwingender Wirkung"
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Gewalt
Naturgewalt(en) = force(s) of nature / elemental force(s) / elemental power(s)
Cf
"It can be so peaceful, then the river reminds you of its strength and your heart pounds with excitement."
https://conservationphotographers.org/1frame4nature-art-wolf...
+
https://views.austria.info/de/category/text/72#!/11103
+
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elemental-Power-Celtic-Druidic-Llew...
Here’s another poem, this time about the “sanfte Gewalt” of a tree:
“was selbst die Kriege nicht geschafft, das vollbringt die Birke mit sanfter Gewalt und macht auch vor Menschenwerk nicht halt.“
http://www.kirchbrak.de/chronik/gelbehefte/heft19/kap1923.ht...
We can argue about the position of "gently" in the sentence above, but in my humble opinion, you cannot translate this literally, and I think you should be aware of the period in which the poem was written. This is the 1930s. It’s neo-romanticism (at least, in Germany):
"Artists such as John Piper and Graham Sutherland turned to a traditional means of representation in the wake of the unprecedented damage and loss of life. Like the first Romantics, they drew upon a wide range of literary sources, whilst nature was considered to be an elemental force capable of inspiring sublime emotional reaction."
http://www.pallant.org.uk/docs/phg_keith_vaughan__teaching_n...
You’d think about Dylan Thomas, Robert Louis Stevenson and others (even if their works had been published earlier). It's "naturmagisch"--supernatural, magical, enchanted, or even awe-inspiring--not a violent episode (“Zauber”):
"What was produced, intentionally or otherwise was a veneration of the romantic past and the cultivation of a supernatural, idealistic or even prophetic sense of the British landscape together with a yearning for beauty and innocence, that in all conveyed an arcadian existence."
http://www.artbiogs.co.uk/2/movements/neo-romanticism
This one is “not shrouded in a veil of romanticism,” but it’s a good example for comparison:
http://www.campdengallery.co.uk/catalogues/jshearer.pdf
It may even sound “bombastic,” but not really threatening:
https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/autumn_fires_7667
Additionally, Huchel drew on his childhood memories for the rest of his life [which is where "reminds you of" comes in]:
"Das lyrische Werk Huchels ist wie kein anderes mit der Landschaft und den Bewohnern der Mark Brandenburg verbunden. Das trifft nicht nur für die naturmagischen Gedichte seines Frühwerks zu [...]"
http://www.peter-huchel-haus.de/Peter Huchel
Be aware, though, that this was written before WWII. AFAIK, Huchel did become “gloomier” later in life because of his works being used by the Nazis for their own purposes and his time spent in the German Democratic Republic.
You also need to take the next sentence into account. It describes the beauty of that landscape. Nature may be a "harsh mistress," as one translator of Huchel's works calls it, but I'd take this statement with a grain of salt in this context.
More tags: raw/relentless/subtle/sublime/unyielding
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Lancashireman
: That's more like it :-)
1 hr
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Thanks! Nowadays, Brandenburg offers wild western towns: http://www.eldorado-templin.de/ Who knows, in ten years we may be back here, discussing John Wayne references :-)
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| agree |
Ramey Rieger (X)
: Excellent!
13 hrs
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Thanks, Ramey!
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| neutral |
Helen Shiner
: This distorts the force of the text. It is sanfte Gewalt not sanft annehmen. Annehmen is an active verb, not a passive one, and simply does not mean to remind one of. This is not Neo-Romanticism, that's post-war revisionism./The style label is irrelevant.
15 hrs
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I think it's close. These are his early works; it's the "naturmagische Schule": http://www.arnshaugk.de/diktynna/die_naturmagische_schule.ht... Not even sure that isn't a category of its own. And "annehmen" is a very "weak" active verb (cf Duden).
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| agree |
Herbmione Granger
: Agree mostly with the interpretation :) / The progression is stagnant to flowing. Any further info is above my pay grade ;)
21 hrs
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Thanks! "sanfte Gewalt" http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berlin-vor-der-wahl-die-fl... / "gentle power": http://keystonefund.org/success-story/natures-gentle-power. Could be! Farm -> lake (reclaimed by nature).
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Discussion
I could've been just as harsh in my criticism of your explanation, but I chose not to be; I didn't even post a comment.
There's absolutely no basis for suggesting any link between algae toxicity and Huchel's poems. You won't find any source to back this up and I can't believe any German would even understand that. Furthermore, if you had read the links I provided, you would have seen that this is not about any war experience or "encroaching violence." One of his poems (and that's even in response to the years under Hitler) includes algae too:
"Ich hob die Reuse aus dem Spalt,
es flimmerten kristallne Räume,
es schwamm der Algen grüner Wald,
ich fischte Gold und flößte Träume."
It's much more in line with works by Stevenson (see answer) than with anything written by Kafka. Here's an interpretation:
http://lyrik.antikoerperchen.de/peter-huchel-die-sternenreus...
Cf:
https://books.google.de/books?id=U5EYCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA343&lpg=P...
Blame Harald and his comment
"verblasst in Verbindung mit Substantiven, drückt aus, dass sich etwas in bestimmter Weise verändert, entwickelt"
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/annehmen#Bedeutung3b
Emphasis mine. The actual meaning is turn/change/morph into; it's a "weak" active verb.
RE "transitive": both "remind of" and herbalchemist's "reveal" are transitive verbs. That should even be clear from the Oxford link given.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reveal
@herbalchemist
I did say we can argue about the position of "gently." The point is that this doesn't mean what most here may think it means. I added the other poem to illustrate that point. Here's "sanft" (only quoting the meaning that refers to "sanfte Gewalt"):
"mit einer gewissen Zurückhaltung und weniger direkt geäußert, in Erscheinung tretend"
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/sanft
The roots are every bit as destructive in the example above as anything else. They are not "gentle." They're just better at hiding their true "power."
This here's a bit of an opposing view, I guess, but it shows why this has little to do with WWI: http://www.planetlyrik.de/peter-huchel-die-sternenreuse/2011...
Best
However, in context and as Björn has clearly pointed out, the land does not take on the other extreme; it wasn't an extreme to begin with. When considering the Primal Elements referred to by Björn, all of the strange word pairings are actually 'adjacent'.
'Huchel’s poetry has been characterized as post-Romantic nature poetry. Michael Hamburger writes that Huchel’s early verse contained an “earthiness and a wealth of observed, lived particulars” as well as “mythical and occult overtones.”' https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/peter-huchel
Some 'occult stuff' follows (nothing very deep):
Each of the Primal Elements corresponds to a cardinal direction: N/Earth, E/Air, S/Fire & W/Water. Thus, 'blue fire' = SW = between Fire and Water, and so on. The journey is counterclockwise: Boden, Wellen von Farn, blauen Feuer, brandigen Luft, überknisterten Grund (sound has Air correspondence). For more on correspondences: https://thenewpagan.wordpress.com/elements-correspondences/
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Gewalt
Naturgewalt = force of nature
Cf
https://views.austria.info/de/category/text/72#!/11103
http://www.fotocommunity.de/photo/sanfte-gewalt-manuel-lemke...
I don't get how the meaning of this sentence has been turned on its head by suggesting some threat or such. It's the opposite, which should have been clear by the part in bold in the last sentence:
"Noch steht man in der brandigen Luft von Harz und Borke, auf einem moosarmen, nur von Kiennadeln überknisterten Grund, doch man blickt hinab und fühlt, wie schön dort unten, im Zauber der Zauche, Wald, Schilf und Wasser beieinander liegen."
Here's the sequence: sparse vegetation (how exciting! ugh) -> ferns everywhere (maybe surprise, surprise?) -> lake / colorful environment (impressive!)
Similar to "Raw nature in all its beauty":
http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-38288359
ZAUBER DER ZAUCHE
"Wo der karge, von Roggen, Kartoffeln und Lupinen bestandene Boden seinen schlafenden Ackerweg ganz in der krautigen Brach versanden läßt, wächst nichts als wilder Hand und dürrfe Kiefernheide; watet man aber durch Wellen von Farn die Föhrenhügel hinauf und sieht plötzlich, im blauen Feuer des Mittags, einen von Algen verschleierten See unter sich - dann nimmt das Land eine sanfte Gewalt an.
Noch steht man in der brandigen Luft von Harz und Borke, auf einem moosarmen, nur von Kiennadeln überknisterten Grund, doch man blickt hinab und fühlt, wie schön dort unten, im Zauber der Zauche, Wald, Schilf und Wasser beieinander liegen."
Peter Huchel
No, I have no idea what he means.