A belated comment, as the poet has preferred not to respond: of course the
word "Aufklärung" can mean both "reconnaissance" and "enlightenment" in a
poem, Klaus, that's the sort of thing poetry does, it's also called "irony";
and as for "Verklärte", well, it should be obvious that Dominic is referring
to Schoenberg's (Dehmel's) _Verklärte Nacht_ and altering the vowel in an
"illuminating" way ~ night and not or nought, Nacht und Nicht, these words
are connected in our minds if not in any formal etymology; no coincidence in
a poem that there _is_ a German term "Vernichtungskrieg". The only babies to
come out of this fuck-up are dead babies.
By the way, "verklärt" may be archaic in your corner of the woods, but where
I'm living you can read and hear expressions like "ein verklärtes Lächeln".
I've noticed that a lot of Germans are provincial timeists with regard to
language: if one doesn't say it in their milieu it's non-existent or
antiquated. Something to do with post-war denial perhaps...
Dominic has written an excoriating philippic on the ongoing diversionary
massacre.
Cheers
Martin
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