''Die Krokodile'' ('The Crocodiles') was a small poets' society in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

which existed from 1856 to the 1870s.

Background and beginnings

King

Ludwig I en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

had constructed the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I to house his collection of Greek and Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculpture", from the Greek verb γλύφειν ''glyphe ...

and the Pinakothek to house art collections. Part of his intention was to attract intellectual luminaries to Munich, with little result before the efforts made by his successor Maximilian II. Among others came the chemist Justus von Liebig, the ethnologist

Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (6 May 1823 – 16 November 1897) was a German journalist, novelist and folklorist. Riehl was born in Biebrich in the Duchy of Nassau and died in Munich. Riehl was born into a settled middle-class background, was a profe ...

and the historian

Heinrich von Sybel Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel (2 December 1817 – 1 August 1895), German historian, came from a Protestant family which had long been established at Soest, in Westphalia. Life He was born in Düsseldorf, where his father held important pos ...

. Two poets who arrived in Munich were

Emanuel Geibel Emanuel von Geibel (17 October 18156 April 1884) was a German poet and playwright. Life Geibel was born at Lübeck, the son of a pastor. He was originally intended for his father's profession and studied at Bonn and Berlin, but his real interests ...

and

Paul Heyse Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (; 15 March 1830 – 2 April 1914) was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the '' Tunnel über der Spree'' in Berlin and ''Die Krokodile'' in Munich, he wrote n ...

. In 1852 they joined the cultural society '' Die Zwanglosen'', founded in 1838, which was intended to serve as a meeting-place for both native Bavarians and the new arrivals, the so-called ''Nordlichter'' ("northern lights"). However the two groups became fractious and in 1858 Geibel left. Heyse had already created a new society, following the model of the ''

Tunnel über der Spree ''Der Tunnel über der Spree'' was a German literary society based in Berlin, founded on 3 December 1827 by Moritz Gottlieb Saphir. Most active between 1840 and 1860, it acquired 214 members and influenced literary life in Berlin for more than seven ...

'' in Berlin, of which both he and Geibel had been members. Heyse and

Julius Grosse Julius Waldemar Grosse (25 April 1828 – 9 May 1902), German poet, the son of a military chaplain, was born at Erfurt. Biography He received his early education at the gymnasium in Magdeburg, and on leaving school and showing disinclination f ...

held the inaugural meeting on 5 November 1856 in the coffee-house ''Zur Stadt München''. In the first years

Friedrich von Bodenstedt Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (22 April 1819 – 19 April 1892) was a German author. Biography Bodenstedt was born at Peine, in the Kingdom of Hanover. He was trained as a merchant in Braunschweig and studied in Göttingen, Munich and Berlin. ...

Felix Dahn Felix Dahn (9 February 1834 – 3 January 1912) was a German law professor, German nationalist author, poet and historian. Biography Ludwig Julius Sophus Felix Dahn was born in Hamburg as the oldest son of Friedrich (1811–1889) and Constanze ...

, Wilhelm Hertz and

Hermann Lingg Hermann (Ritter von) Lingg (22 January 1820 – 18 June 1905) was a German poet who also wrote plays and short stories. His cousin, Maximilian von Lingg, was Bishop of Augsburg. He was born in Lindau. Lingg studied medicine at the universities o ...

joined. It was claimed by Felix Dahn that the name of the society came about because of the coincidence that both Geibel and Lingg had recently written poems about crocodiles, but it seems more probable that Lingg's poem ''Das Krokodil von Singapur'' was the sole inspiration. : "The sublime character of this amphibian seemed to us an admirable example to idealistic poets, and we hoped that in our 'holy pond' we should be able to armour ourselves against the base prosaic world, just as we always used to, minding nothing except maybe changes in temperature." (Paul Heyse: ''Jugenderinnerungen und Bekenntnisse'') At meetings, recent works both foreign and local were examined and discussed. As in the ''Tunnel über der Spree'', members adopted pseudonyms: Geibel for example was the ''Urkrokodil''. A complete list of members has not survived.

Literary influence

The group is distinguishable from the

Young Germany Young Germany (german: Junges Deutschland) was a group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth ideology, similar to those that had swept France, Ireland, the United States and Italy. Its main proponents ...

movement by its non-political stance. The Crocodiles preferred to see poetry as a pure and almost sacred art, ideally following ancient, medieval, and even Oriental models; the result was an eclectic body of work, often of the highest craftsmanship but lacking literary substance. Not coincidentally, most of what has survived has been translations and adaptations, such as Bodenstedt's reworking of Oriental sources and Hertz's poems based on medieval material. After the death of Maximilian II in 1864, policies changed and the grooming of immigrant artists was discontinued. ''Die Krokodile'' had lost their main sponsor and public role. An attempt to produce a second group anthology in 1866 was a failure. The society remained in existence chiefly as a social club.

Members

* Max Beilhack (Nashorn) * Friedrich Bodenstedt (Apis) *

Otto Philipp Braun Otto Philipp Braun (13 December 1798 – 24 July 1869, also known as Felipe Braun during his time in South America) was one of the most successful foreign volunteers participating in the independence war of South America. He was an important sup ...

* Julius Braun *

Moritz Carrière Moritz is the German equivalent of the name Maurice. It may refer to: People Given name * Saint Maurice, also called Saint Moritz, the leader of the legendary Roman Theban Legion in the 3rd century * Prince Moritz of Hesse (2007), the son of ...

(Schiff der Wüste) *

(Gnu) –– Gründungsmitglied * Hermann Ethé * Gustav Flörke *

(Urkrokodil) * Franz Grandaur *

(Ichnoymon) * Leonhard Hamm *

Max Haushofer Maximilian Joseph Haushofer (12 September 1811 – 24 August 1866) was a German landscape painter and professor of landscape painting at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts. Biography He was born in Nymphenburg, the son of a tutor at the court of ...

* Karl August Heigel * Wilhelm Hemsen (Skarabäus) * Wilhelm Hertz (Werwolf) *

(Eidechs) * Bernhard Hofmann * Hans Hopfen * Oskar Horn * – honorary member * Wilhelm Jensen * Konrad Knoll – honorary member * * Ludwig Laistner * Karl Lemcke (Hyäne) * Heinrich Leuthold (Alligator) * Sigmund Lichtenstein (Nilpferd) *

(Teichkrokodil) * Karl von Lützow (Biber) * Andreas May * Melchior Meyr (Ibis) * Karl Woldemar Neumann (Schwertfisch) * Ludwig Nohl * Theodor Pixis – honorary member * *

Adolf Friedrich von Schack Adolf Friedrich, Graf von Schack (2 August 181514 April 1894) was a German poet, historian of literature and art collector. Background Schack was born at Brüsewitz near Schwerin. Having studied jurisprudence (1834–1838) at the universities o ...

– honorary member *

Joseph Victor von Scheffel Joseph Victor von Scheffel (16 February 1826 – 9 April 1886) was a German poet and novelist. Biography He was born at Karlsruhe. His father, a retired major in the Baden army, was a civil engineer and member of the commission for regulating the ...

– honorary member * Hermann Schmid * Oskar Schmidt * Ludwig Schneegans * August Schricker * Johann Schrott – honorary member *

Karl Stieler Karl Stieler (December 15, 1842 in Munich, Germany – April 12, 1885 in Munich) was a German lawyer and author. Life Stieler was the son of the painter Joseph Karl Stieler and his wife, the poet Josephine von Miller. After graduating from sch ...

* * Franz Trautmann * Robert Vischer * Gottfried Wandner * * *

Adolf Wilbrandt Adolf von Wilbrandt (24 August 183710 June 1911) was a German novelist and dramatist. History Wilbrandt was born in Rostock. His father was a professor at the University of Rostock. He received early education in his native town, and then enter ...

– honorary member * Adolf Zeising

Publications

* Emanuel Geibel (ed.): ''Ein Münchner Dichterbuch'', Stuttgart 1862 * Paul Heyse (ed.): ''Neues Münchner Dichterbuch'', Stuttgart 1882

Bibliography

* Véronique de la Giroday: ''Die Übersetzertätigkeit des Münchner Dichterkreises'', Wiesbaden 1978 * Johannes Mahr (ed.): ''Die Krokodile. Ein Münchner Dichterkreis'', Reclam, Stuttgart 1987 * Renate Werner: ''Gesellschaft der Krokodile''. In: Wulf Wülfing et al. (ed.): ''Handbuch literarisch-kultureller Vereine, Gruppen und Bünde 1825–1933'', Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, pp 155–161,

External links

Auszug aus Heyses Erinnerungen
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Projekt "Lyriktheorie"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krokodile, Die German writers' organisations German literary movements 19th-century German literature Poetry movements