Verse Techniques in Translation

The Internationalisation of German Poetics and Occasional Poetry of the 17^th and 18^th Centuries

The project surveys the transfer of European verse techniques into German poetics and occasional poetry in Early Modern times. For the first time, an international and chronologically comprehensive perspective on the centuries of Baroque and Enlightenment is taken. Especially in the 17^th and 18^th century the oratio ligata provides space to translate poetologically symbolic systems of rhythm, beat and rhyme. With respect to the growing globalisation the German verse system in the 18^th century receives manifold trans-European impulses that research has not analysed until now. The objects of investigation are poetic textbooks and didactical compendia of writing poetry. To get insights into poetic practices the project compares the poetic output of two centres of occasional poetry in the 17^th and 18^th century: Breslau and Zurich. This makes it possible to gain insight into a most important genre and its relevance in the discussion about European and global rhythms.  Research results will be documented by

(i) compiling a repertorium of the international sources of German poetic compendia and poetic textbooks of the 17^th and 18^th century as well as

(ii) a study of the internationalisation of verse language in the period of investigation.

The project is headed by Prof Dr Jörg Wesche and worked on by Dr Julia Amslinger.

Project website at the University Duisburg-Essen.

Publications (project-related):

• Prof Dr Jörg Wesche
• Dr Julia Amslinger