DU SEI WIE DU, immer:

Medieval Mysticism and

the Perception of History
in the Poetry of Paul Celan

YOU BE LIKE YOU, ever.

Stant up Jherosalem inde

Ryse up Jerosalem and

erheyff dich

rowse thyselfe

Auch wer das Band zerschnitt zu dir hin,

The very one who slashed the bond

inde wirt

erluchtet

and becum

knpfte es neu, in der Gehugnis,

yllumyned

Schlammbrocken schluckt ich, im Turm,

knotted it new, in memorance,

Sprache, Finster-Lisene,

spills of mire I swallowed, inside the

kumi

tower,

ori.

speech, dark-buttress,

unto you,

kumi
ori.*
*Translation by John Felstiner in Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor,

Jew, New Haven: Yale UP, 1995. Used with permission.

Sei Wie Du1 is an enigmatic

texts, addresses Eckharts influence on

verse, and in this manner

Celan with respect to specific poems,

is characteristic of Celans

but excludes this one, where the

work. Of the various poems from his

Meisters print is most obvious.2 John

oeuvre that can be argued to echo

Felstiner, foremost American scholar

the sermons of Meister Eckhart, this

of Celan, focuses his argument

is the only one that directly quotes the

about this poem on the difficulty of

fourteenth-century mystic, and in his

the interpretation of Eckharts text

own languageMiddle High German.

for Celans Jewish identity, which he

Yet, interpretations of the mystical

argues is fulfilled by the quoted kumi /

aspect of the poem have been few.

ori.3 Werner Weber, writing for Die Zeit,

Otto Pggeler, in writing about mystical

notes with reference to Du Sei Wie Du

elements in Celans and Heideggers

that Das Schwierige und Dunkle in den

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by Chelsea Gunter

DU SEI WIE DU, immer.

Gedichten Celans hat viele angezogen,

the German language, and his success

macaronic: a genre of polylingual verse

religious philosopher, is useful:

that many have been attracted to the

in resuscitating it from the idiom of its

that arose throughout Europe in the

mysticism is an interior or introvertive

difficulty and darkness of his poems.

Nazi tormentors, is well documented by

late Middle Ages that was continued

quest, culminating in certain interior

Yet, such a general statement about

Derrida, Lacoue-Labarthes, Gadamer,

in the German tradition by writers

experiences which are not described

its difficulty offers little explanation of

and other major theorists of recent

such as Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball.

in terms of sense-experience or mental

the poets use of Old High German

decades. In Du Sei Wie Du, we

Gernot Wei notes that in such poetry

images.8 For Eckhart, this experience

in this particular work.4 However, that

experience clearly the figure of Celan as

a hierarchy of perceptions does not

concludes with the seeker in union

Celan lifts directly from the sermon

a poet writing in the German language,

exist; even the competing languages

with God. However, there are clearly

of a medieval mystic suggests an

as a Jew, and, moreover, as someone

are of same value; in other words,

fundamental problems attendant upon

interpretation of Du Sei Wie Du that

interested in Germanys past. If only

the macaronic poem makes equal

any attempt to express such an internal

is otherwise ignored; mysticism, in this

by including Modern German, Middle

what we might think are disparate

experience. In A Philosophical Analysis

poem, serves as an ordering principle,

High German, and Hebrew, Celan

languages, with their own political,

of Mystical Utterances, Richard Hubert

and constitutes both what and how the

positions the poem within a specific

social, and cultural valences. Wei

Jones defines the problem of relation in

poem signifies. Futhermore, Celans

historical contextthat which prompted

describes this squaring, with reference

mystical insight:9

incorporation of Eckhart illuminates his

Adorno to write, Nach Auschwitz, ein

to the polyglot poetry of Hugo Ball,

One moves away from the

particular perception of history.

Gedicht zu schreiben ist barbarisch.

as transcendental; his approach to

normal cognitive situation

For this reason, this poem directly

language is mystical. And, literally, it

of a subject knowing a

published in Lichtzwang, a collection of

addresses how it is that a German Jew

is mysticism and the mystical utterance

mental or physical object

poems prepared by Celan but published

might create after Auschwitz, while

that unites the languages of Du Sei

set off from the subject in

posthumously in 1970. Celan composed

historicizing this assertion.

Wie Du: the quotation of Isaiah 60:1;

some sense. More exactly,

of both Eckharts text and kumi ori; the

the result is a state of

Du Sei Wie Du was first

To write this post-Shoah poem,

journey to Israel in 1969. He learned

Celan quotes from the ancient, sacred

speech, silence, and mud swallowing;

consciousness without an

Middle High German, however, much

language of Hebrew, and the vernacular

the ambiguity of the I-you relation; and

object of consciousness. In

earlier, after returning from a forced

language of Middle High German,

the alterity of the languages themselves

other words, such a state is

labor camp early in 1944to a home,

unread outside circles of scholarship.

gesture toward an interpretation of the

totally other than that which

as Felstiner notes, under Romanian

In quoting these words they become

poem in terms of its mystical elements.

constitutes normal sensing or

police supervision, suspended between

his ownindeed they areand in

Nazi and Soviet occupation. As a

so doing Celan makes relevant and

religious, and therefore also mystical,

German Jew, both of whose parents

contemporary both of these languages

experiences, but the definition of

description of mystical experience

had been executed in concentration

of alterity. In its variation of language,

mysticism offered by Ninian Smart,

is inscribed in a languageany

camps, Celans endeavor to write in

the poem is much like a medieval

influential twentieth-century Scottish

languagethat operates within the

There exists a variety of

conceptual activity.
The difficulty, then, is that the

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the poem for a friend while on his first

realm of normal sense experience.

is such that one must speak. Jones

other claims.13 The mystical experience

of union with God: Jerusalem means

Language requires the separation of

looks at two methods employed by

is hermetic: each experience defines

a height.15 He explains: If you humble

subject and object in order to make

mystics to overcome the limitations of

its own coherence; the use of paradox

yourself, God comes down from above

distinctionsalways agreed upon by

communicating experience: negation

in mystical tracts points to ontological

and comes into youa God who is

the community of speakersand for

and paradox. Negation is that for

referents outside ordinary language for

brought down, not completely, but only

this reason is antithetical to the parleur

which Eckhart is most famous: his

which the terms of the paradox may

within, that we may be raised up.16

of the introvertive quest for interior

negative theology posits that man can

in fact be knowable, just in another

This is a description of mystical union

experience or, for Eckhart, union

only know what God is not. In saying,

sense. The use of such paradoxical and

with God that, if not ecstatic, is still

with God. Grammatical relationships

as Eckhart does, that God is neither

negated language is to gesture toward

singularyou humble, comes into

determine the relationships of their

this, nor that, or that we should love

the mystical experience, rather than

you. It is this individual experience

referents, and since language

God as he is, a not-God, a not-Ghost,

directly describe it. These are symbolic

that affects the collective (that we may

by its very nature bifurcates into

apersonal, formless, all attributes

uses of language that ultimately give

be raised up). Jerusalem here is an

categories, and since the mystical is

of God are stripped away, leaving a

meaning to mystical experience by the

abstractionthe height to which the

undifferentiated. . . language cannot

positive, real remainder. The risk in

use of language that is foreign to it. If

soul may be raised in union with God.

apply to it, as Jones writes. The

defining negatively, though, is that

this strategy for mystical experience will

For Eckhart, a medieval Christian, this

difficulty, then, is that the description of

even describing experience as what it

not lead all there, the possibility for the

city is associated with the holy land,

mystical experience must be expressed

is not leads to a conceptualization of

hearer to understand at least exists.

as the distant origin of Christianity; for

in language, and languages operate

objects as separated, and the subjects

within the realm of normal sense

relation to these as the same. Paradox,

from Eckhart in Du Sei Wie Du

generation, Jerusalem had become

experience.

the second strategy Jones describes,

is from his sermon on Isaiah 60:1,

once again a location in reality, and

is the use of what is contradictoryfor

Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem. An

one with which Celan, in particular,

the fundamental impossibility of

example, Eckharts line no man can

exegetical description of the biblical

identified.17 Where Eckhart speaks of an

communicating mystical experience

see God except he be blind, nor know

line, the sermon describes the path to

imagined, allegorical Jerusalem, then,

is complete silence. Yet, as Eckhart

him except through ignorance, nor

habitual union with God. In enjoining

Celan speaks of a specific, knowable

writes, if anyone has understood this

understand him except through folly.

Jerusalem to be lifted and enlightened,

locationthe one from which he writes

sermon, I wish him well! If no one had

Mystical experiences, Jones writes,

in enjoining the city, the community

Du Sei Wie Du.

come to listen, I should have had to

like all experiences, are themselves

to rise up, Eckhart gives what is

preach it to the offering box. The

nonrationalonly claims about the

nonetheless an interpretation of this

Isaiah 60:1, Celan does not refer to

impulse against silence, the urgency

mystical experience can be consistent

passage in terms of the individual by

Eckharts description of the moment

of communicating the experience,

or inconsistent with each other or with

redefining Jerusalem as the pinnacle

of mystical experience, but rather in

10

11

12

14

Celan and countless other Jews of his

In quoting Eckharts sermon on

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The obvious solution to

The passage that Celan quotes

the preachers guidance of the parish

close as possible to the sky, high in the

because of the inclusion of I later, the

undifferentiated communication for

to such experiencethe imperative

tower, is the extent of his despair and

speaker in soliloquy. To insist upon a

which Celan strives is that which

for such experience. In choosing

humility to achieve the unionthough

separation in the way that the title line

would make Middle German, Modern

so, Celan does not merely adopt

not necessarily with Godthat leads to

doesYOU BE LIKE YOU, alwaysis

German, and Hebrew contemporary.

and endorse Eckharts theology,

undifferentiated communication.

to reveal how close this you is to the

The poem includes present imperative,

speakerso close that to affirm the

as well as past and present passive

Du Sei Wie Du, characteristic

of his own poem. By scribing the

of mystic utterance, is defined by what

separation language needs to be used.

tenses, but it is as impossible to

imperatives ryse up, rowse thyself,

it does not defineby its possible

Yet, the ambiguity of the pronouns

locate the temporal relation of these

and becum / yllumyned, he does

negatives. This is no more conspicuous

referred to undermines the call for

pasts to the command present so as

not himself just insist on illumination

than in the relation of the speaker to

eternal separation and individuation.

to determine the identity of any of its

so much as express his desire for

the you addressed in the poem. The

Unresolved, the separation recounted

pronouns. Whether the meaning of

that heightJerusalemthat Eckhart

echo to Bubers Ich und Du in the title

in the following lines culminates in a

the tense in Eckharts Middle High

argues individually may be achieved

line is obvious; however, the you

bond knotted new, and so does not

Germaninde wirt / erluchtet, and

by all. Desire, because the possibility

or one is never named, and it is

establish any clear relation between

becum / yllumynedis present or

of reaching this height, for Celan, is

unclear whether those in the first line

distinct objects either. Thus, while not

future is ambiguous, and, because it

not assumed. Celans incorporation of

are identical. Hebrew verbs contain

writing who the speaker or addressee

is a quotation of a dead language, the

Eckharts imperatives demonstrates

gender markers, but this information is

are (or are not), Celan frustrates the

question remains whether we are to

that a desire for that height is a

lost in Eckharts translation of Isaiah.

conceptualization of each as separated

interpret these lines as a remainder

desire for the metaphysical speech

Grammatically, Jerusalem would seem

objects, and thus avoids the risk that

from past.18 The poem consists of three

that defines it. Speech, ultimately, is

a likely referent for the you of the first

attends negation as a descriptive

sentencesthe two that follow the first

the last referent for arise, / shine:

line, yet the alterity of the quotation from

strategy. Likewise, the paradox of

in separate languages are intertwined

Schlammbrocken schluckt ich, im

Middle German suggests otherwise,

insisting upon a you in static partition,

line by line, and all end in kumi / ori.

Turm, / Sprache, Finster-Lisene.

as does the reference to wer in line

while referring to the same you with

While weaving the syntax of these three

Commonplace speech, that grim, dark

four. In this line (And he who slashed

bond woven new, is resolved in the

languages, Celan equivocates their

pilaster, in lineation looks like a cliff after

the bond to you there), it is unclear

coherence, the hermetic nature of

grammatical impact, as well as their

which one scans to kumi, meaning

who he or you are, and that the

interpretation that the poem demands.

temporal aspect: both are made in the

to arise. This is what, as a German

thought continues weaved it new, in the

Jewish poet and Holocaust survivor,

memory / pieces of mud I swallowed

experience, Celan circumscribes

ori, arise, / shine. At the same time,

Celan must transcend. To ingest the

suggests that you could be either God

no temporal or physical location

the macaronic quality of this poem,

earth of the everyday, to do so as

(in line with Buber), the addressee, or,

besides the height of the tower. The

lacing three languages, diffuses any

Also characteristic of mystical

present due to the repetition of kumi /

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but revises it within the metaphysic

it is for the same reason that Eckharts

Endnotes

German-Speaking Countries. Eds.

description of mystical experience

Lorenz, Dagmar C. G. and Posthofen,

kumi / ori. In its original version, Celan

seems inscrutablesuch an expression

Felstiner translates Eckhart using the

Renate S. (Columbia, S.C.: Camden

had written these lines in Hebrew

requires the transformation of everyday

English of John Wycliffes 1382 Bible

House, 1998), 260.

script. Werner Weber, in Die Zeit,

language. This is perhaps why, in Celan

from the Vulgate for the passage from

Ibid, 264.

argues that Celan identified his fate

scholarship, this poem has been largely

Isaiah.

Smart, Ninian. Interpretation and

with the fate of Israel, Jerusalem.

overlooked.

Mystical Experience, Religious Studies 1

valence each alone may have.

The poem ends, in Hebrew, with

19

20

However, Celan equally identifies

Pggeler, Otto. Mystical Elements

in Heideggers Thought and Celans

(1965): 75.

with his German past in Du Sei Wie

expression, Celans Du Sei Wie Du

Poetry. Word Traces: Readings of Paul

Du. To make the medieval German

demonstrates the poets perception

Celan. Ed. Aris Fioretos (Baltimore: The

Philosophical Analysis of Mystical

and Hebrew pasts contemporary,

of history and desire for the

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994),

Utterances. Philosophy East and West.

bridges the chasm between the

undifferentiated speech of mystical

75109.

29.3 (1979): 255.

present, the unspeakable, and the

language to bridge the incommunicable

10

Ibid, 259.

past. This would be the achievement

that constitutes that history. Yet, in its

Celans Du Sei Wie Du. Prooftexts. 3

11

Ibid, 266.

of undifferentiated speechto have

injunction to arise, shine, it remains

(1983): 91108.

12

Ibid, 265.

a language that could communicate

uncertain whether undifferentiated

Weber, like Felstiner, ultimately

13

Ibid, 265.

across, in Celans words, the thousand

speech is possible. The imperative

argues that Celan identified himself

14

Clark, James N. Meister Eckhart:

darknesses of deathbringing speech,

of Eckharts text and the Hebrew of

with the fate of Israel. Weber, Werner.

An Introduction to the Study of His Works

thereby forming a coherent historical

Isaiah demonstrate that the desire for

Du Sei Wie Du: Zum Tode VOU Paul

with an Anthology of His Sermons.

reality. It is toward this that the poem

undifferentiated speech is just thata

Celan. Die Zeit. (1970): 17. <http://

(Edinburgh: Nelson, 1957), 246-249.

ultimately gestures. For a language

desire.

www.zeit.de/1970/20/Du-sei-wie-

15

Ibid, 247.

that represents each of the three

du?page=all>.

16

Ibid, 247-8.

realities of Modern German, Medieval

17

Weber, like Felstiner, ultimately

German, and Hebrew, the speaker

Celans Du Sei Wie Du. Prooftexts. 3

argues that Celan identified himself with

of the poem performed the antithesis

(1983): 97.

the fate of Israel. Weber, Werner. Du Sei

of speaking, which for Celan was

Wie Du: Zum Tode VOU Paul Celan.

signaled in the image of swallowing

the Own: Polylingual Literature and the

Die Zeit (1970): 17. <http://www.zeit.

muda scenario in which grammatical

Problem of Identity. Transforming the

de/1970/20/Du-sei-wie-du?page=all>.

relationships are neutralized. If the

Center, Eroding the Margins: Essays

18

poem still seems dark and unreadable,

on Ethnic and Cultural Boundaries in

participleetwirt should be

21

Felstiner, John. Translating Paul

Felstiner, John. Translating Paul

Wei, Gernot. The Foreign and

Jones, Richard Hubert. A

Because erluchtet is a

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74 | ANAMESA

In its content and mode of

This is John Felstiners translation.

translated as present passive, and not

future tense. The translation above
does not translate as future.
19

Felstiner, John. Translating Paul

Celans Du Sei Wie Du. Prooftexts. 3

(1983): 97.
20

Weber, Werner. Du Sei Wie Du:

Zum Tode VOU Paul Celan. Die Zeit.

(1970): 17. <http://www.zeit.de/1970/20/
Du-sei-wie-du?page=all>.
21

Deathbringing, as a single word,

is Felstiners innovation. Celan, Paul.

Der Meridian: Rede anlsslich der
Verleihung des Georg-Bchner-Preises
(1961). Selected Poems and Prose of

Paul Celan. Trans. John Felstiner. (New

York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001),
401413.

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THE PERCEPTION ISSUE | 77

Ang Ca Limbs by Cara Judea Alhadeff