Contemplating Hell

Bertolt Brecht 1898 (Augsburg) – 1956 (East Berlin)



Contemplating Hell, as I once heard it,
My brother Shelley found it to be a place
Much like the city of London. I,
Who do not live in London, but in Los Angeles,
Find, contemplating Hell, that it
Must be even more like Los Angeles.

Also in Hell,
I do not doubt it, there exist these opulent gardens
With flowers as large as trees, wilting, of course,
Very quickly, if they are not watered with very expensive water. And fruit markets
With great leaps of fruit, which nonetheless

Possess neither scent nor taste. And endless trains of autos,
Lighter than their own shadows, swifter than
Foolish thoughts, shimmering vehicles, in which
Rosy people, coming from nowhere, go nowhere.
And houses, designed for happiness, standing empty,
Even when inhabited.

Even the houses in Hell are not all ugly.
But concern about being thrown into the street
Consumes the inhabitants of the villas no less
Than the inhabitants of the barracks.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 19, 2023

48 sec read
119

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXBAB XXXXC XXXXDX DXCX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 934
Words 161
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 5, 6, 4

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, theatre director, and Marxist. more…

All Bertolt Brecht poems | Bertolt Brecht Books

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