Great German Poems of the Romantic Era: A Dual-Language Book (Dover Dual Language German)

This is a nice collection of poetry, which I bought solely for the German, not the translated, poetry. The translations are usually pretty good, faithful to the language and the feeling of the original poem--as much as possible with a translation, of course. There were a few poems where I felt that the English word-choice was not what I would have chosen, and that another would have conveyed the flavor of the English word better, or, less often, that the change in the word-order, while making the poem read more "English," was not the word order I would have used. Nonetheless, for the selection of poetry alone, I give this collection 4 stars. It would probably be a nice gift for a high school student studying German (who enjoys poetry), particularly since adolescence is the perfect time of life to be reading the Romantics, which resonate well with the highs and lows of the teenage years! It would also be nice for someone who studied German years ago, but hasn't read it in a while, since the English side of the text can provide a bit of help when the meaning of a word or two escapes. It's also not a bad choice if you just want to read some German poetry and are having a hard time finding anything in the original, although it is a very slim volume.

I own both the paperback and the Kindle Edition of this book.The Kindle edition is mostly unreadable due to the messy formatting of the book. German and English verses are mixed together without any clear delineation between the titles. Of course someone expects to see both languages in a bi-lingual edition, problem is that the poems are fragmented with missing lines, then with random lines inserted in either English or German lines out of context. There is no pagination between the English and German versions of the poems which would make this book readable in its Kindle form.

Twenty-three poets in 230 pages. Good Introduction with solid biographical information on each author.My German is at a rudimentary level so the rare typos in the text were more of a problem to me than they will be to most others.

The translator, Stanley Appelbaum, is one of the best German-English translator that I have ever encountered. He was able to translate the literature/short stories in parallel, sentence-by-sentence. I have read almost all the German-English books translated by Stanley as well as books translated by others. Stanley's translation ability is unmatched. Thanks!

While a great selection and fair translations some translations _incomplete_ .For example Hölderlin “The Oak” the last two lines of the English vs areleft in German.Hölderlin - EnglishI don't think I would have translated last line as "dwell among you". The earlier lines make me think the literal "under you" more appropriate....as from the next poem Diotema:"As early as the time when, in dreams Elicited from me by the serene day, I lay, a contented boy, Beneath the trees in my garden..."He is quite literally looking up throughout these poems. He remains diminished by a sense of his own human weakness(failings?) but drawn by the majesty and strength before and over him.

This collection of German poetry, with the original German on the left page and a literal (rather than poetic) translation on the right page, offers an excellent introduction to some of the world's most beautiful verse, much of it having been set to music by the greatest composers. Included are Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Novalis, Clemens Brentano, Rückert, Heine, Mörike, Nietzsche, and several others. The selections seem well chosen and the translations are quite good, often creative in their own right. There is also a fine introduction devoting a page or two to each of the poets. Finally, the print is unusually clear and large, and this paperback seems better bound than most. A real bargain at this price. Highly recommended.

There is beauty in the German words and phrases that is not translatable, but it is nice to have a literal translation next to the original when the reader doesn't have a dictionary handy. This is a nice collection of a good variety of poems.

Used this book for my college German class! However its interesting for anybody. Great poems and if youre learning the German language its nice to have both.

A good introductory essay on Romanticism, a clear translation on the facing page, and some helpful biographical details on the writers; but the selection misses a number of more representative pieces (epecially of Goethe and Heine), and further textual commentary would make this a more useful collection. The Penguin book still gives better value for money.

Good selection/