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Some Poems by Paul Klee
Poems by the famed artist Paul Klee, discovered and published posthumously. Selected by the translator.
35 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
About the author
Paul Klee
340 books98 followersPaul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a Swiss painter and a German painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered color theory, and wrote extensively about it; his lectures Writings on Form and Design Theory (Schriften zur Form und Gestaltungslehre), published in English as the Paul Klee Notebooks, are considered so important for modern art that they are compared to the importance that Leonardo da Vinci's A Treatise on Painting had for Renaissance. He and his colleague , the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art, design and architecture. His works reflect his dry humour and his sometimes childlike perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 14, 2020
او می‌‌نگرد
به مردم در حال گذر
که بدل می‌شوند به خط‌‌ها
و او تنها به خط‌‌ها می‌‌نگرد
پیتر هارتلینگ درباره‌‌ی پل کله
به مردم در حال گذر
که بدل می‌شوند به خط‌‌ها
و او تنها به خط‌‌ها می‌‌نگرد
پیتر هارتلینگ درباره‌‌ی پل کله
October 15, 2015
پل کله نقاش مشهوری است اما تنها بعد از مرگش مشخص شد که شعر هم می گفته. این مجموعه، گزیده ای است کوتاه، و متأسفانه تک زبانه، از اشعار او - شامل 20 شعر
اشعار برای من اشعار تکان دهنده ای نبودند. عموما ابهام داشتند و در باقی موارد هم لذت و اندیشه ی چندانی برنمی انگیختند. اما چند شعر جالب هم درش بود
شعر زیر برایم از همه ی اشعار مجموعه جالب تر بود
THE TWO MOUNTAINS
A reign of light
clarity on two mountains :
the mountain of animals
the mountain of gods.
But between them the dusky
valley of men.
When
sometimes, one of them
looks up
he is gripped
by foreboding
by unquenchable longings, he
who knows
he knows not, longing
for them who know not
they know not
and for them who know that they know.
1903
March 10, 2017
Water
Waves on the water
A boat on the waves
On the boat-deck, a woman
On the woman, a man
-
Woe is me
Weighed down
By the hour
Returning
Alone In the centre
The worm
Prowling
Down in the deep
-
My star
Rose deep
Below
My feet
Where does my fox
Go in the winter?
Where does my serpent
Sleep?
-
In the heart's centre
the only prayers
are steps
receding
Waves on the water
A boat on the waves
On the boat-deck, a woman
On the woman, a man
-
Woe is me
Weighed down
By the hour
Returning
Alone In the centre
The worm
Prowling
Down in the deep
-
My star
Rose deep
Below
My feet
Where does my fox
Go in the winter?
Where does my serpent
Sleep?
-
In the heart's centre
the only prayers
are steps
receding
June 10, 2013
Among my favorite painters, I now understand why I never knew that he also wrote poetry.
June 29, 2022
I, from a reader's point of view, find these short poems lacking in heart and profoundness. He's an artist. This piece is nowhere near to a sublime artwork, but I do feel good for him for making this like a sketch—rapid and free.
Rapid, but free.
Rapid, but free.
October 25, 2017
Paul Klee’s poems can be sketches of his drawings and paintings. However, words add different meanings to his images: meanings worth imagining in drawing and painting.
May 13, 2021
Favorites: "The Rescue", Untitled "Poem" ("I stand in full armour..."), "Dream" (1914), "Last Thing's Last"
February 7, 2022
It was a short read, ideal if you’re tired or want a book that you can read quickly.
March 14, 2022
I just loved these poems. Oh jezzas.
April 17, 2024
“Bound for
destruction?
Perhaps,
but then, I have
this knack
of saving myself,
in the nick
of time, time
and again.”
destruction?
Perhaps,
but then, I have
this knack
of saving myself,
in the nick
of time, time
and again.”
June 5, 2024
This collection is extremely brief, but the poems are all very enjoyable.
Read
July 4, 2024“In the heart's centre
the only prayers
are steps
receding”
July 20, 2024
I surprisingly found myself mesmerized by the broad strokes these poems painted. simple, but suggesting complexity.
June 11, 2024
If I'm going to be honest, there's two main reasons why I even downloaded this PDF in the first place:
1) I was on a manic downloading spree on monoskop.org (if only it was easier to search), and
2) This poetry collection was short
I didn't even know who Paul Klee was. All I knew was that he was an artist, so I was interested. Initially I got him mixed up with Jeff Koons, but Klee's art is much better. His poetry resides somewhere in between A. A. Milne and Don Marquis, especially with how wholesome he is. When skimming through his Wikipedia page, I was blown away by the range of styles he possessed, each unique without feeling like he was trying too hard. This painting, when I read the title, made me actually laugh aloud:
Revolution des Viadukts, 1937
Something about these viaducts menacingly approaching the viewer (while looking comical with their little feet) absolutely floored me. It's so whimsical, so simple, yet so original.
That describes this book of poetry as well. His poems have a narrative simplicity and directness which evokes the best of Stephen Crane's poetry, but he almost always errs on a more humorous side. Klee does have a more serious, even philosophical side (which, once again, evokes Crane's approach), such as:
A reign of light
clarity on two mountains:
the mountain of animals
the mountain of gods.
But between them the dusky
valley of men.
But he often enough returns to whimsy; the shocking thing, something I noticed especially as the collection progressed, was Klee's astounding control of the line! Take this for one example:
I don't want to
be overgrown
by anything.
Though I would like
to have the experience.
I just don't want to.
He uses it so effectively to evoke humor, like a professional comedian who practices their cadences by running the same jokes past different audiences at different speeds, pausing in different places, even while retaining the same verbiage. It slowly gets more sophisticated, from this:
To visit a sorcerer
in his garden . . . there is a bench
of crimson rose petals
Take a seat, he
says, pray
be seated, and I
pretend to be so
To this:
THE CAT
- part of the cat:
her ear, feeding
on spoonfuls
of sound, her foot
taking a run, the
run,
her eye, burning in-
wards, burning
through the thick
and the thin.
Her face
that forbids all return:
beautiful
and a flower
but bristling with weapons,
and nothing
to do with us, in
the end.
This latter poem especially pulls and scrunches, pulls and scrunches, much like cats seem to do, stretching out into impossible shapes, then curling up into perfect loaves. The description of "a flower / but bristling with weapons," describes the cat's face (perfectly, I may add), though separated by a stanza break and several lines. His later poem "The Wolf Speaks" is also even more sophisticated in its use of repetition and phrasing, but it remains astonishingly readable.
To me, this small collection is a masterclass in beginner's brain, a great example of what a pure heart and a childlike disposition can do when you approach a new domain. Somehow, it seems Klee was able to retain this disposition in his artistic career as well, which is doubly impressive. He manages to channel simple joy in such an unpretentious way. I genuinely think most every poet could learn a great deal from reading these poems, and I think that the average person would definitely enjoy these as well.
1) I was on a manic downloading spree on monoskop.org (if only it was easier to search), and
2) This poetry collection was short
I didn't even know who Paul Klee was. All I knew was that he was an artist, so I was interested. Initially I got him mixed up with Jeff Koons, but Klee's art is much better. His poetry resides somewhere in between A. A. Milne and Don Marquis, especially with how wholesome he is. When skimming through his Wikipedia page, I was blown away by the range of styles he possessed, each unique without feeling like he was trying too hard. This painting, when I read the title, made me actually laugh aloud:
Revolution des Viadukts, 1937
Something about these viaducts menacingly approaching the viewer (while looking comical with their little feet) absolutely floored me. It's so whimsical, so simple, yet so original.
That describes this book of poetry as well. His poems have a narrative simplicity and directness which evokes the best of Stephen Crane's poetry, but he almost always errs on a more humorous side. Klee does have a more serious, even philosophical side (which, once again, evokes Crane's approach), such as:
A reign of light
clarity on two mountains:
the mountain of animals
the mountain of gods.
But between them the dusky
valley of men.
But he often enough returns to whimsy; the shocking thing, something I noticed especially as the collection progressed, was Klee's astounding control of the line! Take this for one example:
I don't want to
be overgrown
by anything.
Though I would like
to have the experience.
I just don't want to.
He uses it so effectively to evoke humor, like a professional comedian who practices their cadences by running the same jokes past different audiences at different speeds, pausing in different places, even while retaining the same verbiage. It slowly gets more sophisticated, from this:
To visit a sorcerer
in his garden . . . there is a bench
of crimson rose petals
Take a seat, he
says, pray
be seated, and I
pretend to be so
To this:
THE CAT
- part of the cat:
her ear, feeding
on spoonfuls
of sound, her foot
taking a run, the
run,
her eye, burning in-
wards, burning
through the thick
and the thin.
Her face
that forbids all return:
beautiful
and a flower
but bristling with weapons,
and nothing
to do with us, in
the end.
This latter poem especially pulls and scrunches, pulls and scrunches, much like cats seem to do, stretching out into impossible shapes, then curling up into perfect loaves. The description of "a flower / but bristling with weapons," describes the cat's face (perfectly, I may add), though separated by a stanza break and several lines. His later poem "The Wolf Speaks" is also even more sophisticated in its use of repetition and phrasing, but it remains astonishingly readable.
To me, this small collection is a masterclass in beginner's brain, a great example of what a pure heart and a childlike disposition can do when you approach a new domain. Somehow, it seems Klee was able to retain this disposition in his artistic career as well, which is doubly impressive. He manages to channel simple joy in such an unpretentious way. I genuinely think most every poet could learn a great deal from reading these poems, and I think that the average person would definitely enjoy these as well.
February 5, 2024
A handful of poems are good, but to be honest he’s a bit of a pretentious guy who loves comparing himself to God. To each their own I guess. Love the little doodles on the margins the edition I bought had though, nice addition.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews