Reinhard wrote poetry from his youth, rebelling against his strict up-bringing, and he studied Nietzsche. This led him to become part of the German Expressionist movement. His first published poem was “The Youth” which was followed by a play entitled “The Beggar”.
Reinhard was one of the first winners of the Kleist Prize, which was awarded annually from 1912 for German Literature in memory of Heinrich von Kleist the German poet, novelist and dramatist who died in 1911.
Reinhard married Susanne Handewerk and for their honeymoon they went on a cruise to Italy. Impressed with the piousness of the Italian Catholics, the couple converted to Catholicism on their return to Germany.
Conscripted into the Imperial German Army in 1915, Reinhard was wounded during the Battle of the Somme on 20th July 1916 and died at a Field Dressing Station near Ablaincourt soon afterwards. He is buried in Vermandovillers German War Cemetery in France near the battlefield where he died. The poet Alfred Lichtenstein who was killed in 1914 is buried in that cemetery too.
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| On leave in Berlin in 1915 |
Reinhard’s poetry collections were published after his death:
“Mutter der Himmel. Ein Sang in zwölf Gesängen” (1917);
“Gericht über Zarathustra. Vision” (1921);
“Preis der Unbefleckten. Sang über die Begegnung zu Lourde's” (1924);
“Nachgelassene Gedichte” (1925)
Tritt Herein (trans: Step Inside)
Tritt herein in unsre Kreise,
In den Nachtbann unseres Nichts,
Zeige Dich auf Engelweise,
Bräutigam des keuschen Lichts!
Daß wir Ehre Dir erzeigen,
Unser Sein in Dir erglüht,
Segne uns aus Deinem Schweigen,
Nimm uns Wille und Geblüt!
Posthumously published in “Nachgelassene Gedichte“ By Vier Quellen Verlag, Leipzig – 1925
Translation Step Inside
Step into our circles,
Into the night spell of our nothingness,
Show yourself in the guise of an angel,
Chaste bridegroom of the light!
So that we may honour you,
Our very being glows in you,
Bless us with your silence,
Take us passion and blood!
