Religious dualism and aesthetic mediation in the work of Georg Trakl

Starting from an analysis of the ambiguities within one Trakl poem, the article demonstrates how these have led to two extremes of critical opinion, one claiming evidence of Christian sympathies in Trakl's work, and the other asserting his allegiance to a view of poetry as an aesthetic activity independent of any such meaning. A re‐appraisal of those aspects of his verse which have given rise to these conflicting interpretations discovers firstly a strong religious dualism underlying Trakl's work, resembling a Gnostic rather than a Christian position. This then leads to a recognition that ambiguities of content and style do not indicate an affirmation of a Rimbaldian ‘world‐soul’, but reflect his attempt to use poetry to reconcile the two sides of his basic dualism. Musical imagery and the sister symbol emphasise Trakl's awareness that a poem can evoke die Seele as well as depict the world; he realises, however, that this mediation can only be imperfect.