"Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt" ("Call it Causelessly Merry") is a poem by

Mascha Kaléko Mascha Kaléko (born Golda Malka Aufen; 7 June 1907 – 21 January 1975) was a German language, German-language poet. Biography Kaléko was born Golda Malka Aufen in Chrzanów, Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia (now Poland). She was the daugh ...

. It begins with the line "Ich freu mich, daß am Himmel Wolken ziehen" (I enjoy that clouds travel in the sky). It was published in 1977, after her death, and was set to music by

Herbert Baumann Herbert Baumann (31 July 1925 – 21 January 2020) was a German composer and conductor. His compositions were mainly for theatre and film, at theatres in Berlin and Munich, such as ballet music for ''Alice im Wunderland'' and ''Rumpelstilzchen'' ...

History

The author had moved with her family from Galicia to Berlin, where she had contact with writers such as

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...

Else Lasker-Schüler Else Lasker-Schüler (née Elisabeth Schüler) (; 11 February 1869 – 22 January 1945) was a German-Jewish poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and her poetry. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressi ...

and

Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (; 9 January 1890 – 21 December 1935) was a German journalist, satirist, and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser (after the historical figure), Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wrobel. Tucholsky was on ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

compared her to

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

; she had a similar sense of irony, preventing sentimentality. Her poems were published in the newspapers ''

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally-known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

'' and '' Berliner Tageblatt''. The poem was published by

Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag The dtv Verlagsgesellschaft is a German publishing house headquartered in Munich. It was founded in 1960 by eleven publishers as a common paperback publishing house named "Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag" (German paperback publishing house). Starti ...

in 1977 in the collection ''In meinen Träumen läutet es Sturm'' (In my dreams, a storm is brewing). The collection of poems and

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s was edited by , to whom Kaléko had entrusted her unpublished writings. "Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt" was among 42 of her poems set to music for voice and guitar by

and is the title of a CD recorded in 2011 by singer and Sebastian Albert.

Content

The poem is structured in three

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s, the first two with eight lines, the last one with ten. It begins with the

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

"Ich freu mich, daß am Himmel Wolken ziehen" (I enjoy that clouds travel in the sky). The first-person speaker lists images for reasons to be happy, some of which are not necessarily reasons to be happy at first sight, such as rain, hail, frost and snow, mentioned in the second line. In the third stanza, the poet turns to herself, saying "In mir ist alles aufgeräumt und heiter" (Everything in me is cleaned-up and cheerful). It ends with the conclusion "Ich freu mich, dass ich mich freu" (I enjoy that I enjoy).

References

External links

* Gisela Zoch-Westphal (ed.)
In meinen Träumen läutet es Sturm / Gedichte und Epigramme aus dem Nachlaß
maschakaleko.com
Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt
Discogs {{DEFAULTSORT:Sozusagen grundlos vergnügt German poems