Studia Litterarum Studia Litterarum 2500-4247 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2023-8-3-28-45 Research Article Articles Phenomena of Color and Sound in the Autumn Lyrics by Georg Trakl Sokolova Elizaveta V. red@studlit.ru September 25, 2023 2023 September 15, 2022 The autumn poems of the Austrian poet Georg Trakl (1887–1914), making up a significant part of his lyrical heritage, may be examined through the prism of color and acoustic imagery. The article shows that in his earlier lyric poems (1909–1912) color and sound serve primarily to distinguish between the two spaces, the first of which associates with the reality (natural life, autumn landscape), while the second corresponds to the places of “otherness” (sleep, death). The first space is characterized by a rich palette and sound diversity; the “other” space is depicted mostly in black and white, full of disturbing silence or sharp mechanical sounds. Later verses from 1913–1914 demonstrate less clear distinction of the two spaces, both flow into each other and even merge into one. Color and sound, as it were, “stitch” them through, connecting one with the other. Duality leaves the space and is now concentrated in the very image of autumn, which combines the generosity (abundance of fruits) of the life lived and dying, “black decay.” At the same time, color and sound markers of life and death remain the same, though their use changes slightly: color often acts now as a part of a complex image (“blue wings of the evening”), “dark” tends to become “black”; sounds subside, replaced by a meaningful silence. German poetry of the 20th century expressionist lyrics poems about autumn color in poetry acoustic imagery Georg Trakl Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 1. 1 Broitman, S.N., and N.S. Pavlova. “ʽPokoi i molchanie’ G. Traklia: k voprosu o neklassicheskom tipe khudozhestvennoi situatsii i nekanonicheskom zhanre” [“ʽPeace and Silence’ by G. Trakl: On the Issue of a Non-classical Type of Artistic Situation and a Non-Canonical Genre”]. Dergachevskie chteniia — 2000. Russkaia literatura: natsional’noe razvitie i regional’nye osobennosti: materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, Ekaterinburg, 10–11 oktiabria 2000 g. [Dergachev Readings — 2000. Russian Literature: National Development and Regional Features: Materials of the International Scientific Conference. Yekaterinburg, October 10–11, 2000], part 2. Yekaterinburg, Ural University Publ., 2001, pp. 369–374. (In Russ.) 2. 2 Pavlova, N.S. Priroda real’nosti v avstriiskoi literature [The Nature of Reality in Austrian Literature]. Moscow, Iazyki slavianskoi kul’tury Publ., 2005. 312 p. (In Russ.) 3. 3 Pestova, N.V. Lirika nemetskogo ekspressionizma: profili chuzhesti [Lyrics of German Expressionism: Kinds of Strangeness]. Yekaterinburg, [S. n.], 1999. 463 p. (In Russ.) 4. 4 Poeziia sumerek, ili Simfoniia chelovechestva: Novye prochteniia i interpretatsii antologii “Sumerki chelovechestva” [The Poetry of Twilight, or the Symphony of Mankind: New Readings and Interpretations of the Anthology “The Twilight of Mankind”]. Moscow, Kul’turnaia revoliutsiia Publ., 2022. 352 p. (In Russ.) 5. 5 Sokolova, E.V. “ʽVesna’ v nemetskoi poezii: nadezhda, radost’, novoe rozhdenie?” [“ʽSpring’ in German Poetry: Hope, Joy or Revival?”]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaia i zarubezhnaia literatura. Seriia 7: Literaturovedenie, no. 2, 2022, pp. 9–21. DOI: 10.31249/lit/2022.02.01 (In Russ.) 6. 6 Shokhina, E.V. Semantika vremen goda v poezii pushkinskoi pory [Semantics of the Seasons in the Poetry of Pushkin’s Time: PhD Dissertation]. Voronezh, 2017. 160 p. (In Russ.) 7. 7 Blass, Regine. Die Dichtung Georg Trakls. Von der trivialsprache zum Kunstwerk. Berlin, Erich Schmidt Publ., 1968. 251 S. (In German) 8. 8 Dank den Jahreszeiten. Die Jahreszeiten in deutschen Gedicht, Hrsg. von Heinz Kachele. Berlin, Verlag der Nation, 1962. 254 S. (In German) 9. 9 Doppler, Alfred. Die Lyrik Georg Trakls: Beitrage zur poetischen Verfahrensweise und zur Wirkungsgeschichte. Salzburg, Otto Muller, 2001. 198 S. (In German) 10. 10 Overath, Angelika. Das andere Blau. Zur Poetik einer Farbe im modernen Gedicht. Stuttgart, Metzler, 1987. 233 S. (In German) 11. 11 Rogers, Michael. “Trakl’s Imagery.” Londoner Trakl-Symposion, Hrsg. von Walter Methlagl. Salzburg, Otto Muller, 1981. S. 33–46. (In German) 12. 12 Wetzel, Heinz. Klang und Bild in den Dichtungen Georg Trakls. Gottingen, Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht Publ., 1968. 195 S. (In German) 13. 13 Zwerschina, Hermann. Die Chronologie der Dichtungen Georg Trakls. Innsbruck, Institut fur Germanistik, Univ. Publ., 1990. 270 S. (In German) 14. 14 Zyklische Kompositionen in Georg Trakls Dichtungen. Szegeder Simposion. Tubingen, Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1996. 299 S. (In German)