death_date death_place birth_place nationality name birth_date image article_title birth_name occupation
31 march 1914 meran munich german christian morgenstern 6 may 1871 morgenstern-h420 . jpg christian morgenstern
 christian otto josef wolfgang morgenstern poet author
christian morgenstern

christian otto josef wolfgang morgenstern -lrb- 6 may 1871 -- 31 march 1914 -rrb- was a german author and poet from munich .
morgenstern married margareta gosebruch von liechtenstern on 7 march 1910 .
he worked for a while as a journalist in berlin , but spent much of his life traveling through germany , switzerland , and italy , primarily in a vain attempt to recover his health .
his travels , though they failed to restore him to health , allowed him to meet many of the foremost literary and philosophical figures of his time in central europe .
morgenstern 's poetry , much of which was inspired by english literary nonsense , is immensely popular , even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime .
he made fun of scholasticism , e.g. literary criticism in `` drei hasen '' , grammar in `` der werwolf '' , narrow-mindedness in `` der gaul '' , and symbolism in `` der wasseresel '' .
in `` scholastikerprobleme '' he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle .
still many germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart , e.g. the following line from `` the impossible fact '' -lrb- `` die unmögliche tatsache '' , 1910 -rrb- : `` weil , so schließt er messerscharf / nicht sein kann , was nicht sein darf . ''
`` for , he reasons pointedly / that which must not , can not be . ''
embedded in his humorous poetry is a subtle metaphysical streak , as e.g. in `` vice versa '' , -lrb- 1905 -rrb- : `` ein hase sitzt auf einer wiese , '' `` des glaubens , niemand sähe diese . ''
`` doch im besitze eines zeißes '' `` betrachtet voll gehaltnen fleißes '' `` vom vis-à-vis gelegnen berg '' `` ein mensch den kleinen löffelzwerg . ''
`` ihn aber blickt hinwiederum '' `` ein gott von fern an , mild und stumm . ''
`` a rabbit in his meadow lair imagines none to see him there .
but aided by a looking lens a man with eager diligence inspects the tiny long-eared gnome from a convenient near-by dome .
yet him surveys , or so we learn a god from far off , mild and stern . ''
gerolf steiner 's mock-scientific book about the fictitious animal order rhinogradentia -lrb- 1961 -rrb- , inspired by morgenstern 's nonsense poem `` das nasobēm '' , is testament to his enduring popularity .
morgenstern was a member of the general anthroposophical society .
dr. rudolf steiner called him ' a true representative of anthroposophy ' .
morgenstern died in 1914 of tuberculosis , which he had contracted from his mother , who died in 1881 .
