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Rebecca Mullins
April 1, 2014
Country Project Literary Analysis
Walsers Exemplification of the Swiss View of Nature
Switzerland is an extremely heterogeneous nation, rich in cultures and ethnicities. The
country has four official languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansch, and countless more
unofficial ones are spoken (Graham). Although Switzerland has only technically existed for a
little over 100 years, a confederation of states has existed in the area since the early 13th
century. Many historical documents, songs, and fables, such as the first version of the William
Tell song, emerged between the 13th and 17th centuries (Egli et al.). However, distinctly
Swiss literature did not appear until the 1800s, when the country established the Swiss
Constitution and writers began giving up the use of Latin for their native tongue. Of course, this
lead to the multiple languages and forms that Swiss poetry and stories exist in today (Egli et
al.). German, being the most widely spoken of the four national languages, is naturally the
language most iconic Swiss writers have used. For these reasons, research was narrowed to
encompass writing from only the past two centuries, and focus was placed mainly on the authors
whose native language was German.
Many well-known authors have emerged from Switzerland. Johann David Wyss, author
of the Swiss Family Robinson, and Johanna Spyri, famous for her story Heidi, were both born
and lived in the mountainous country. Poetry gained notoriety within the nation as well, made
popular by poets such as Hermann Hesse and Gottfreid Keller (Egli et al.). Each writer and poet
brought a new dimension to the countrys patchwork tapestry of culture, woven from literature in
different languages, from different backgrounds, and geared toward different audiences.
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The mountainous geography of Switzerland has caused the Swiss people to develop a
unique view of nature. Forests cover over 30 percent of the country, and some 90,000 jobs in
Switzerland depend on the timber industry in one way or another (Switzerland and the
Environment). Living in an isolated nation with a resulting vulnerable ecosystem, the Swiss
have been forced to learn to cooperate with nature rather than fighting it or exploiting it
ruthlessly. Rapid industrialization has led to the idea of nature being fragile, caught in a balance
between it and technology (Switzerland and the Environment). Thus, the Swiss have learned
to accept their dependence on the natural world and have developed a reverence for their
environment. This view has been epitomized in the literature of many famous Swiss authors.
No poet exemplifies this regard for nature more than Robert Walser. Walser, born in
1878 and known as the missing link between Kleist and Kafka, was a Swiss writer and poet
(Sontag 89). He is known mainly for his short stories, but his poetry is both beautiful and shows
the delicate view of nature that Switzerland is known to have. Through the use of imagery, tone,
and other literary devices, Walser's poetry portrays nature as sacred yet commonplace, beautiful
yet necessary.
Much of Walsers poetry highlights the contrast of nature and industrialized society. His
poem Oppressive Light stands out as one of the best examples of this.
Two trees stand in the snow,
the sky, tired of light,
moves home, and nothing else
but gloom close by.
And behind the trees
dark houses tower up.
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Now you hear something said,
now dogs begin to bay.
And the dear, round lamp-
moon appears in the house.
And the light goes out again,
as a wound yawns open.
How small life is here
and how big nothingness.
The sky, tired of light,
has given everything to the snow.
The two trees bow
their heads to each other.
Clouds cross the worlds
silence in a circle dance. (Walser 32)
The use of imagery in this excerpt, that of two trees standing in the snow (1), begins the poem
in nature, which is directly put into contrast with the urban environment of dark houses
towering up behind the trees (5-6), dogs beginning to bay (8), and a round lamp-moon (9-
10) appearing inside the house. Once the lamp goes out, darkness returns. Walser once again
returns his imagery to that of the trees and the snow. This juxtaposition of nature and
industrialization is a classic view of many Swiss citizens. Walser goes even further with the
lines How small is life here / and how big nothingness (13-14). These two lines are located
after the section of the poem with imagery of the urban setting, when the lamp light is
extinguished. As the human world goes dark, nature remains, and the sheer triviality of
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humanity is shown. How vast is this world without human corruption, this nothingness.
Not all of Walsers poems were so outright in their depiction of nature, but most, if not
all of them contained imagery of the natural world. For example, Returning Home (1), written
about the aftermath of the narrator speaking his mind, reads:
I look down at the snow
and walk past many houses,
past many hedges, many trees,
the snow adorns hedge, tree and house.
I walk on, staring down
at the snow, on my cheeks
nothing but red-hot memory
reminding me of my wild talk. (Walser 22)
Although the poem is not about nature outright, Walser takes every chance he has to include the
imagery of the snowy world around him. This added imagery is anything but superfluous,
however. In some ways, Walser is describing the snow, but there is much more to it. As he
walks and remembers the foolish words spoken, cheeks burning red with shame, the snow
provides solace. The narrator finds comfort in the nature around him as he returns home, which
symbolizes the reverence that the environment holds among Swiss citizens.
Other poems have more obvious ties to the natural world such as Walsers iconic poem,
Spring (1).
Presumably no one minds
that the woods are greening again,
that meadows are full of grass,
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that birds are singing in the trees,
that violets are blooming from the dirt.
Hundreds and thousands of green leaves!
Spring is a field marshal
who conquers the world,
and no one holds a grudge. (Walser 72)
In this poem, Walser exalts the coming of spring. Fantastic imagery accompanies this exaltation,
that of birds singing in the trees (4), and violets blooming from the dirt (5). He ends the
poem with a sentiment held by most of Switzerland: Spring is a field marshal / who conquers
the world / and no one holds a grudge (7-9). Its these lines that cause the poem to be
representative of the countrys general feel toward the subject. Switzerland, surrounded by the
Alps and mountainous throughout, experiences the same harsh winters that plague much of
central and northern Europe. When spring arrives, conquering the world like a field marshal
(7-8), it is not only accepted but also welcomed by the Swiss, who are ready for the bleary winter
to finally come to an end. Walser does a magnificent job of exemplifying this common view of
the changing seasons, a prevalent aspect of nature to those in central Europe.
As Switzerland has grown as a country, the citizens have also developed a unique
perspective on nature and the world around them. Robert Walser has been able to encompass the
overall view Switzerland has on the environment by the use of many literary devices, the most
prevalent of which being gracious amounts of imagery. Whether it be through poetry solely
dedicated to the natural world, or even in small excerpts inserted into poetry seemingly unrelated
to the subject, Walser has expertly and accurately portrayed the unparalleled Swiss attitude
toward the mountainous world around them.
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Works Cited
Egli, Emil, Aubrey Diem, Thomas Maissen, and Daniel Wachter. "Switzerland: Literature."
Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/577225/Switzerland/256966/Literature>.
Graham, Adam. "Exploring Switzerland in 4 Languages."Newsday. Newsday, 16 Aug 2014.
Web. 1 Apr 2014. <http://www.newsday.com/travel/exploring-switzerland-in-4-
languages-1.5889951>.
Sontag, Susan. Where the Stress Falls. 1st ed. New York: Picador Publishing, 2001. 89. Print.
"Switzerland and the Environment." SwissWorld. Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
Web. 1 Apr 2014. <http://www.swissworld.org/en/environment/>.
Walser, Robert. "Oppressive Light." Oppressive Light. Trans. Daniele Pantano. Black Lawrence
Press, 2012. 32. Print.
Walser, Robert. "Returning Home (1)." Oppressive Light. Trans. Daniele Pantano. Black
Lawrence Press, 2012. 22. Print.
Walser, Robert. "Spring (1)." Oppressive Light. Trans. Daniele Pantano. Black Lawrence Press,
2012. 72. Print.