Wilhelm was born in Leipzig on 15th May 1881. His parents were Rudolf Klemm (1853–1908), who owned and operated the Otto Klemm commission bookstore in Leipzig, and his wife Johanna Helene, nee Scharff (1855–1917).
Educated at the Thomasschule, Wilhelm went on to study medicine in order to become a physician. He studied at three German universities: Munich, Erlangen, and Kiel and completed his medical studies in 1905, before going to study chemistr at the University of Breslau.
Like the Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges (1899 – 1986), Wilhelm started writing poetry at a very early age and completed medical studies in 1905. However, he became a publisher when his father died, taking over his book business just 4 years after graduation.
In 1915, while serving as a doctor with the German army in Flanders, Wilhelm published his first volume of poetry entitled “Gloria! War Poems from the Field.” An American review in 1916 named him as one of two “young artists who preferred emphasizing the realities of war to boasting their ‘Veterlandsliebe [Patriotism]’” and compared his work to Walt Whitman’s “Drum-taps”. His work also appeared in literary journals such as “Der Jugend” and “Simplicissimus” and later in Franz Pfermfert’s “Die Aktion”. Further published volumes were “Verse und Bilder” (1916), “Aufforderung” (1917), “Ergriffenheit“(1919), “Entfaltung” (1919), “Traumschutt” (1920) and “Verzauberte Ziele” (1921). His poems give a very realistic impression of war events and show how much he was affected by the war environment and the work he had to do at the front
“Battle on the Marne” (September 1914) 1917 by Wilhelm Klemm
Slowly the stones begin moving and speaking
The grasses freeze to green metal. The woods,
Deep dense hideouts, devour distant platoons.
The heavens, the chalk-white mystery, threaten to burst.
Two colossal hours roll out to two minutes.
The empty horizon expands upwards
My heart is as large as Germany and France together,
Bored through by all the bullets of the world.
The battery raises its lion voice
Six times out into the land. The shells howl.
Stillness. In the distance the infantry fire seethes,
For days, for weeks.
From: “Aufforderung”, first published 1917(Translated from the German by Penelope Monkhouse)
“Battle on the Marne” by Wilhelm Klemm describes the scene in September 1914; also a realistic depiction with apocalyptic traits. The freezing of the grass to “green metal” is a way of expressing the mass loss of life. Even nature has demon-like features. In the second part of the poem, he identifies with both countries – all suffer under the firing and shelling of the one huge lion of war.
After the war in 1921, Wilhelm took over his father-in-law's (Alfred Kröner) publishing firm - Alfred Kröner Verlag. He managed the publishing business until 1937, when the Nazi regime forced him to relinquish his position.
Wilhelm died on 23rd January 1968.
Source: Wilipedia
You can find out more about Penelope Monkhouse;s work on her website Behind their Lines - https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/2018/01/at-front.html
