AMBIVALENTE LYRISCHE PERSPEKTIVEN AUF DIE INDUSTRIELLE REVOLUTION BY LOUISE OTTO-PETERS

Louise Otto-Peters (1819–95) worked as a political activist, women's rights activist, publicist and writer in the turbulent decades before and after the March Revolution of 1848. These pursuits were closely linked, since Louise Otto, who came from middle-class liberal circles, commented on social grievances and developments in her newspaper articles, novels and poems. This also applies to the poem ‘Einst und Jetzt’, written between 1840 and 1850, which is hermeneutically examined in this article. As the title suggests, the text outlines the dichotomy of past and present or future. The poem, in which the arrival of the railway is a symbol of industrial change, focuses on the contrast between the old, peaceful world and the new world with its noise, faster speed and growth. A young man is drawn into the new world, while his beloved stays at home and is excluded from the innovation resulting from social and industrial upheaval. I examine the poem according to the following questions: What perspectives on the Industrial Revolution and its consequences are expressed and how? In what ways is the poem a feminist text? And where does the poem sit in terms of Louise Otto-Peters’ literary-political background?