Heinrich Lersch

German poet. He took over his father's business as a pot maker. He traveled to Western and Southern Europe as an apprentice. In 1914, he volunteered to serve in World War I, and became famous for his poem "A Soldier's Farewell," which has the refrain "Even if we die, Germany lives." His collections of poems from this time include "Let Your Blood Flow, Heart" (1916) and "Germany! Song of the Nation and the Fatherland" (1918). After the war, he threw himself into the labor movement, and published a collection of poems called "Man in Iron" (1925), becoming one of the petty bourgeois writers known as worker poets. His poetic style was influenced by expressionism, and he resented beautiful words that had no political or social constraints, such as "I believe in Germany as I believe in God," and did not contribute to the development of socialist poetry. His other works include the novels "The Sound of the Hammer" (1930) and "The Beat of the Machine."

[Yokota Chie]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの詩人。父の仕事を受け継ぎ鍋釜(なべかま)製造工。徒弟として西部および南部ヨーロッパを旅行する。1914年第一次世界大戦に志願兵として従軍、「われら死すともドイツは生きよ」のリフレインをもつ詩『兵士の別離』で有名になる。このころの詩集に『ハートよ、その血をたぎらせよ』（1916）、『ドイツ！国民と祖国の歌』（1918）がある。大戦後は労働運動に身を投じ、詩集『鉄の中の人間』（1925）を発表、労働者詩人とよばれるプチブル作家の1人となった。詩のスタイルのうえでは表現主義からの影響がみられ、「われドイツを信ず、神を信ずるごとく」など、政治・社会的規定のない美辞麗句のうらみがあり、社会主義的詩の発展には寄与しなかった。ほかに小説『鎚(つち)のひびき』（1930）、『機械の鼓動』など。

［横田ちゑ］

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