This poem, Nur eine Rose als Stütze, appeared in 1959 in a revised version as the title poem of Hilde Domin’s first collection. The poem consists of four stanzas of five lines each.

The first two stanzas speak of the poet moving into her new room in the sky. She finds a comfortable home in a playful and poetic environment where the bed linen is provided by sheep that resemble clouds. This reversal of the usual metaphor is aptly situated in a context of uncertainty about what is inside and what is outside (reminiscent of Italian metafisica painting), what is permanent and what is transient.

The atmosphere of security seems to permit the speaker to close her eyes. Her commitment to feeling and listening to her surroundings takes the place of visual perception. The first three stanzas all begin with “I,” whereas the fourth is introduced by a sudden “But.” The speaker finds herself unable to sleep and becomes aware of the insufficiency of her own willpower. The concluding paradox finds that only a rose, supposedly the most fragile of flowers, is her support.

The rose has been seen as a symbol of the German language. Upon her return to her native country after 22 years of exile, Hilde Domin found herself struggling to come to terms with a society and a state that had changed dramatically. Only the German language could provide certainty and orientation. The poet has welcomed this interpretation of one of her best-known poems.

Relatively long lines follow the semantic and grammatical structure of the poem. A style rich in adjectives and “wie”-comparisons sets itself apart from the rules established by Gottfried Benn in his influential essay Problems of Lyric Poetry. The frequent use of three consecutive unstressed syllables supports the impression of an airy, light, and at the same time vulnerable condition. Domin, with an almost stereotypically lyrical vocabulary (using rose, air, and clouds as central images), revived and reinterpreted poetic possibility.

Bibliography
Domin, Hilde. “Only a Rose for Support.” In Contemporary German Poetry: An Anthology, translated and edited by Gertrude Clorius Schwebell, with an introduction by Victor Lange, 61. New York: New Directions, 1964.

Categories: German Literature, Literature, World Literature

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