Snow From Broken Eyes Analysis

To fully grasp the importance of cocaine to the Expressionist poets and the movement as a whole, the history of substance abuse in literature and artistic circles of the years leading up to 1900 must be noted. Cocaine, while being a drug pharmacologically different from the choice recreational pharmaceuticals of the past, most notably opium and hashish, occupies a niche within the greater domain of drug culture among the Avant-Garde and the production of drug literature in particular. “The role of psychoactive drugs in European-and later also North American- literature of the Christian Era remained peripheral until the turn of the 19th century, when the Romantic preoccupation with the mysteries of the unconscious mind and the power of the irrational placed alternative states of consciousness- madness, dreams, somnambulism, hypnotism, intoxication- at the centre if popular attention.” Rimbaud reflects upon the poetic advantages of the consumption of psychoactive substances in a letter writing “Maintenant, je m’encrapule le plus possible. Pourquoi? Je veux etre poete, et je traville a me render voyant: vous ne comprendrex pas du tout, et je ne saurais Presque vous expliquer. Il s’agit d’arriver a l’inconnu par le dereglement de tous le sens.” In the decades following works such as Confessions of an English Opium Eater, “Kubla Khan”, Le Fleurs du Mal, Les Illuminations, and many others, the pharmacological benefits of cocaine were popularized and medical professionals began prescribing the drug in various forms for all sorts of uses, most notably, as an anesthetic and a treatment for opium addiction. The drug’s ongoing popularity and seemingly endless endorsement by the medical community and various public figures provides some explanation for its growing availability across Europe. The origin, rise, and growing popularity of cocaine use and the various motivations for its consumption is succinctly described by Antonin: “Coca consumption in pre-Columbian America gave rise to celebrations; the cocaine obsession of the first experimenters was born of scientific enthusiasm; the popular cocainism of the mad years reflected the frenetic artistic activity of the period.” The ‘mad years” to which she refers is the period immediately following the First World War. It was during this time that the substance became synonymous with fashionable society life and the avant-garde community. Despite the ratification of anti-substance regulations in the mid 20’s , the drug remained readily accessible through the black market, cafes, cabaret clubs, brothels, and notably even beyond urban centers. Soldiers often first came into contact with cocaine outside of major cities in military hospitals. Both Trakl and …show more content…
However, the poetry of the movement is often overlooked in favor of the more accessible dramas and novels. In his book, Snow From Broken Eyes, Richard Millington cites Trakl and Benn as two of the most important figures for study when considering the role of cocaine in turn of the century literature due to their respective biographies and the undeniable presence of the substance and experiences associated with it in their work. Each poet has a well documented, and in Benn’s case publicized, affair with the psychoactive substance, and each chronicles their experiences with cocaine in their work. The following argument will consider both of these poets and selections of their work when discussing the role of cocaine among the Austro-German Expressionists and the particular relevance of poetry to the history of the