After Every War
Twentieth-Century Women Poets

Provides a personal glimpse into the effects of war on language, place, poetry, and womanhood. This is a book of translations of women poets living in Europe in the decades before and after World War II. It includes poems that are translated and introduced, with biographical notes on the authors.

They reclaim these moments and draw the reader into them. The poems are translated and introduced, with biographical notes on the authors, by renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland. Her interest in the topic is not abstract. As an Irish woman, she has observed the heartbreaking effects of violence on her own country. Her experience has drawn her closer to these nine poets, enabling her to render into English the beautiful, ruminative quality of their work and to present their poems for what they are: documentaries of resilience - of language, of music and of the human spirit - in the hardest of times.

Introduction 1
ROSE AUSLaNDER (b. 1901)
A Biographical Note 16
Mutterland / Motherland 18
Damit kein Licht uns liebe / So That No Light Would Be There to Love Us 20
Am Ende der Zeit / At the End of Time 22
Verwundert / Amazed 24
Die Fremden / Strangers 26
Meine Nachtigall / My Nightingale 28
Im Chagall-Dorf / In Chagall's Village 30
Biographische Notiz / Biographical Note 32
Mein Schlussel / My Key 34
ELISABETH LANGGaSSER (b. 1899)
A Biographical Note 38
Fruhling 1946 / Spring 1946 40
NELLY SACHS (b. 1891)
A Biographical Note 46
Wenn ich nur wusste / If I Only Knew 48
In der blauen Ferne / In the Blue Distance 50
Bereit sind alle Lander aufzustehn / All the Lands of the Earth 52
In der Flucht / In Flight 54
In diesem Amethyst / In This Amethyst 56
Kommt einer von ferne / If Someone Comes 58
GERTRUD KOLMAR (b. 1894)
A Biographical Note 62
Das Opfer / The Victim 64
ELSE LASKERaSCHuLER (b. 1869)
A Biographical Note 72
Mein blaues Klavier / My Blue Piano 74
Ich weis / I Know 76
Herbst / Autumn 78
Abends / In the Evening 80
Meine Mutter / My Mother 82
uber glitzernden Kies / Over Glistening Gravel 84
Ein einziger mensch / A Single Man 86
INGEBORG BACHMANN (b. 1926)
A Biographical Note 90
Alle Tage / Every Day 92
Botschaft / Message 94
Die gestundete Zeit / Borrowed Time 96
Dunkles zu sagen / To Speak of Dark Things 98
Herbstmanover / Autumn Maneuver 100
Abschied von England / Departure from England 102
Fruher Mittag / Early Noon 104
Exil / Exile 108
Ihr Worte / You Words 110
MARIE LUISE KASCHNITZ (b. 1901)
A Biographical Note 116
Hiroshima / Hiroshima 118
Selinunte / Selinunte 120
Nicht mutig / Not Brave 122
HILDE DOMIN (b. 1909)
A Biographical Note 126
Koln / Cologne 128
Geburtstage / Birthdays 130
Exil / Exile 132
DAGMAR NICK (b. 1926)
A Biographical Note 136
Flugwetter / Flying Weather 138
Aufruf / Summons 140
Den Generalen ins Soldbuch / In the Book of the Generals 142
Niemandsland / No-Man's-Land 144
An Abel / To Abel 146
Emigration / Emigration 148
Notes 151
Checklists 153
Further Reading 165
Index of Titles 167