From Jena to war: Tom Schulz’s poetic argument

From Jena to war: Tom Schulz’s poetic argument

The impressive mural by Ferdinand Hodler in the auditorium of the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena has inspired Tom Schulz to his poem. With an impressive size of 5.5 meters in length and 3.5 meters in width, the picture shows the "Extract of German students to the War of Freedom of 1813". This order from 1908 to 1909 shaped the surroundings in which Schulz lived and worked during his scholarship in 2016. The painting is divided into two horizontal fries and takes the viewer on a trip: students below are transformed into soldiers, and in the upper part young infantry players march with bayonets in their hands.

Schulz takes up some elements of the picture in his work, such as the pleasing Haflinger and the students with his knapperister, but at the same time directs the focus on the deeper meaning that this mural in a historical context. It is not only a simple picture, but also a premonition on the horrors of the First World War that revealed poem in Schulz. He reflects the history of his ancestors and the painful wars that followed. His grandfather was a farmer and communist, and his childhood memories are shaped by these stories. The painful story that through the presentation of the processes of the war gives the poem a haunted depth.

The absurdity of the war

Schulz uses an unconventional approach to create moving pictures that also reveal the absurdity of the war. In a bold approach, he compares the acts of war with ridiculous children's games. "Shooting with lead on rabbits" sounds like the expression of a surrealistic dream that ridicules the cruel reality. This type of humor stands in blatant contrast to the painful image of the glossy grass, which symbolizes the traces of the war. Here the connection to Rimbauds "The Sleeper Im Tal" becomes clear, in which the heavy burden of war is presented in poetic form.

A central theme of the poem is the language itself and its fainting in the face of war. Schulz indicates that the language is crushed; It is made ineffective by the acts of the past. The comparison between the language and a "threshed field" at the end of the poem impressively illustrates this. It is indicated that the generations before him avoided talking about the traumatic experiences as if everything was forgotten and the fields swept empty. This metaphor also speaks for a speechlessness that many artists and writers, such as Inge Müller.

A deeper social reflection runs through the entire poem, since Schulz names the so -called “big potatoes” as symbols for the profiteers of the war, while the simple people have to pay for chaos and injustices. These symbols, together with the "sons of the herb", interweave a direct connection to the experiences and challenges of people in war times.

in Schulz 'work meet history, personal reflection and poetic art. "The Jenenser Student" is part of his latest poem band "The earth raises us" and is not only a tribute to past wars, but also a comment on what can be lost in war - humanity and hope of peace. The poet plays virtuoso over time by interweaving the past and current coexistence, which creates a complex representation of the war and its effects. The pictures he chooses are unforgettable and move between pain and humor, between grief and the absurdity of human existence in the face of war.

Schulz 'poem is to find words that penetrate the power of power in communication on war and crimes. The poem remains in memory and provokes thoughts about the reality of the war and how we deal with our past as a society.