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Karl Krolow

カール・クロロー

Kāru Kurorō

Pen Names: Karol Kröpcke（Pen name used for some works (e.g. Bürgerliche Gedichte, 1970)）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1915-03-11 （Hanover, Germany）
Died
1999-06-21 （Darmstadt, Germany） age 84
Nationality
German
Languages
German, French, Spanish (as translation source languages)
Residence History
Hanover → Göttingen (studies and early career) → Darmstadt (later life and work)

Career

Occupations
poet, translator, writer
Active Years
1935-1999
Affiliations
International PEN Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany, Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz, Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
Memberships
International PEN Centre (Germany), Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung, Academy of Sciences and Literature (Mainz), Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Education

University of Göttingen
Faculty of Humanities / Germanic and Romance languages, philosophy, art history
Period: 1935–1942
Year of Graduation: 1942
Country: Germany
Studied in Göttingen and Breslau (then) during the period
University of Breslau (now Wrocław)
Faculty of Humanities / Germanic and Romance languages, philosophy, art history
Period: 1935–1942
Year of Graduation: 1942
Country: Germany (then)
Attended as part of his studies (transfers/study visits)

Awards

Georg Büchner Prize
1956
Organization: Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
Result: 受賞
Great Lower Saxony Art Award
1965
Organization: Lower Saxony (award)
Result: 受賞
Goethe-Plakette of the State of Hesse
1975
Organization: State of Hesse
Result: 受賞
Rainer Maria Rilke Prize for Poetry
1976
Organization: Rainer Maria Rilke Prize organization
Result: 受賞
Honorary doctorate (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
Organization: Technische Universität Darmstadt
Result: 授与
Hessian Culture Prize
1983
Organization: State of Hesse
Result: 受賞
Great Literature Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
1985
Organization: Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts
Result: 受賞
Friedrich Hölderlin Prize (Bad Homburg)
1988
Organization: Bad Homburg
Result: 受賞
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grand Cross)
Organization: Federal Republic of Germany
Result: 受勲
Stadtschreiber von Bergen (literature prize/residency)
Organization: Bergen (city/residency award)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Gedichte

1948 Poetry

A postwar collection containing early representative poems that reflect concerns with memory, existence, and language.

memoryexistencelanguage

Heimsuchung

1948 Poetry

Poetry collection published in 1948, containing poems that respond poetically to wartime experiences and personal/social memory.

war and memorypersonal experiencelandscape

Tage und Nächte

1956 Poetry

Published in 1956, representing mature poetry with observations on daily fragments and the passage of time.

timethe everydaysilence

Collected Poems (Gesammelte Gedichte)

1962 Collected poetry

A collected selection of his poems to date, arranged to show the development and recurring subjects of his work.

recollectionlandscapereflection on language

Bibliography

  • Hochgelobtes gutes Leben (1943)
  • Das Gedicht in unserer Zeit (1946)
  • Gedichte (1948)
  • Heimsuchung (1948)
  • Auf Erden (1949)
  • Die Zeichen der Welt (1952)
  • Wind und Zeit (1954)
  • Tage und Nächte (1956)
  • Fremde Körper (1959)
  • Gesammelte Gedichte (1962)
  • Reise durch die Nacht (1964)
  • Bürgerliche Gedichte (1970, as Karol Kröpcke)
  • Ein Lesebuch (1975)
  • Der Einfachheit halber (1977)
  • Meine Gedichte (1990)
  • Etwas brennt (1994)
  • Die zweite Zeit (1995)
  • Menschlich (1996)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical and condensed expressionmetaphor- and symbol-heavy languageclear and precise linguistic usage
Recurring Motifs
nature (landscape, seasons)memory and losstime and night / fragments of the everydaycities (notably Darmstadt, Hanover)

Legacy

Karl Krolow is regarded as one of the major postwar German poets, praised for his lyrical and refined poetry. At the same time, his publications during the Nazi period have been the subject of debate, and recent scholarship examines both his literary value and historical involvement.

Academic Societies

  • Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
  • Academy of Sciences and Literature (Mainz)
  • Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Archives

  • German National Library (materials related to Karl Krolow)
  • Publisher archives (e.g. Suhrkamp) holding related materials

Trivia

  • Participated in the Hitler Youth in 1934 and joined the NSDAP in 1937.
  • Published poems in propaganda publications during the wartime period.
  • Published under the pen name Karol Kröpcke in 1970.
  • Buried in the family grave at Municipal Cemetery Engesohde in Hanover (division 13).
  • Worked as a translator from French and Spanish in addition to his poetry.