Poem ‘Music In Mirabell’ by Georg Trakla, Essay Example

Trakl’s works of literature are usually referred to as the early twentieth century’s most unusual and imaginary poetry. His poems are wonderful indeed. They are somberly beautiful and have a wonderful musical cadence. Probably living a tragic life ruined by drug addiction and psychological instability leading to breakdowns helped the author to create the works of amazing depth and striking power. Through the author’s imaginary view of the surrounding environment the reality appear to be distorted by his delirious fancies. No wonder he ended his life committing a suicide via cocaine overdose. Probably, drug addiction had had a specific impact on his creative work, and could serve as a factor provoking mad visions and illusions of which his poetry is full.

Trakl’s poems have a splendid silence in them. Usually it is not the poet who speaks, – he readily permits the images to speak for him and for his hidden emotions. In his poetry most of the illustrations used are those of the silent objects. Yet “Music in Mirabell” is the one filled with rare yet meaningful sounds. While reading we can hear how “a fountain sings”. The author’s mentioning of how “nightly the ear hears the sounds of sonatas” makes a reader himself hear those magical sounds. However, “thoughtfully in the evening silent people wander through the old garden”. It doesn’t really matter whether Trakl mentions silence as a condition of spirit in the poem, even without naming it is always in there, in each word one read, and without sensing and comprehending that silence the whole poem can hardly be understood at all.

Even though “Music in Mirabell” is less dark and depressing than some other works of the author, it bears the same melancholy character that is typical for Trakl’s poetry. When reading the poem I fell in love at once with the feelings it provokes, its general mood, its air of sadness and forthcoming doom. The description of nature is beautiful, and creates a perfectly clear image of what the author is talking about. Each line seems to be full of hidden meanings, it reminds a melancholy reflections of a person, who observes the world, enjoys its beauty and gracefulness, and yet never stop being aware of the imminent death of all the things. He realizes how everything he observes, including himself, is liable to decay, which generates depressing yet peaceful humbleness.

In the poem visions go on after another in a magnificent, somehow dignified way. Line by line the author presents a smooth sequence of interchanging images that have some mystifying connection between them. The tempo of how they follow one another is slow and intense. Each poem has its particular atmosphere. “Music in Mirabell” has a mood similar to the one of someone in the state of daydreaming. The clouds, the old garden with its “ancestors’ marble”, falling leaves and gliding shadows, the firelights, passing stranger and leaping dog, – they all are giving off weird and wonderful colors, either radiant or dark. In poem’s lines those images live in a wonderful harmony, complementing each other and making up a complete picture of something distant, mysterious and not having distinctive boundaries. They all exist in some kind of pleasurable agreement, which is too profound to be cheerful. However, there is always a feeling of dark silence that is everywhere. Beyond those momentous sounds and movements there is world living in obscurity.

“Music in Mirabell” is formed without the application of conventional laws of construction that can be remembered without much effort and that we are used to facing when reading traditional classic works of poetic literature. However, the poem is constructed with wonderful gracefulness and much care. Each word is weighted and considered, and you unavoidably feel it when reading. The words in the poem seem to have their own rules, the author merely allows them to reveal their natural essence without actual application of any laws of construction. As a result the poem is shaped in a perfectly harmonious way being deprived of any signs of pomposity or pretentiousness. How wonderful are clouds standing “in clear blueness, white, delicate”. How endlessly rich is the image of leaves that “fall red from the old tree and whirl inside through the open window”. Every simple object is amazing in the author’s perception simply because he is patient enough to look at those carefully and has courage to defend his awareness from the unnecessary disturbances.

Each image in the poem consists of the range of shapes and sounds that seem to be observed for the first time ever, and have never before been seen by anyone else but the author himself. To prevent oneself from being confused by the bewildering images and paradoxes that Trakl frequently uses in the poem, reader has to be able to follow the example of the author. The reader has to open his eyes and prick up his ears to be able to observe an inner universe concealed in each line, he has to wait patiently for the hidden meanings of things to be revealed and the voice of the author to become explaining rather than confusing.

In my opinion, Trakl’s poems may help the reader to reach a profound understanding of one’s very self. The poem reveals the existence of inner self in each object, and it makes you listen and watch cautiously for every little transformation of your own perception of what you hear and see. Reading the poem is a challenge, since it requires you to enter and be aware of the world that had never before been recognized by you. The flowing manner in which the poem is shaped has a quality of bringing one’s soul to peace. It flows like a melody, beautiful and sad tune sang by the invisible fountain and by the loneliness of one’s soul.

Trakl makes the solitude something precious. He does not hide from the obscurity that surrounds him, he scrutinizes it despite the fears that overfill him in the face of exploring the mysterious darkness. It is a natural characteristic of a human being to rush to the light and to avoid darkness both in the interior and the exterior worlds. Yet Trakl is different, his very way of living is extraordinary while his life is short. And he has courage to peer at the darkest depths of own personality. He is definitely afraid of death, and at the same time he seems to be longing to it, like a child is intrigued by exploring something unknown. He has his own vision of what the world of the dead looks like, and he cannot prevent himself from mentioning it in each poem. He visualizes own horrors, presenting them as “dim specters of fear” that are painted by the glowing firelights. He meets courageously the glance of “dead eyes” with which “a faun gazes” in the darkness, and readily shares his vision with those who are unwilling and unable to face the darker side of mysterious reality.

To conclude my personal interpretation of reading both “Helian” and “Music in Mirabell” poems, which I cannot complete my short investigation without, I need to say that what I believe to be a quality crucial for understanding Trakl’s poetry is tolerance. Reading Trakl’s poems is not about the actual enjoyment of beautiful images and nice rhymes, it’s about discovering and exploring worlds before unknown. No wonder Trakl’s poetry is believed to be absolutely unique. His poems are not stories told or objects created out of beautiful words. They are places where you get each time while reading. And those places are far from being clear and distinctive. They are more like the secluded corners of a somber and quite wood, where you have to sit still and listen carefully in order to observe the dark and powerful beauty of the surrounding reality. Patience is needed to make sense out of those chaotic sounds and colors that the author paints his images in. Each poem has to be read for an indefinite number of times in order to finally hear the true sounds coming out of trees, meadows, ponds, fields, rocks and whatever else objects the author makes the reader observe.  Those places of amazing quietness, motionlessness and tranquility are strikingly lonely and gloomy, yet they are beautiful and magnificent as well, and they serve as a heart of each Trakl’s poem.

Works Cited

Trakl, Georg, and Alexander Stillmark. Poems and Prose: A Bilingual Edition. European Poetry Classics. Northwestern University Press. 2005.