„Ach, in diesem Schwall von Tönen“ – Eichendorffs „Mandelkerngedicht“ zwischen Freiheit und Pflicht

Joseph von Eichendorff’s poem „Mandelkerngedicht“ breaks with the expectations commonly associated with this lyric poet in a striking way. The poem is usually regarded as humorous, not very serious, and not to be taken seriously. In contrast, this article presents a different perspective and elaborates on the aesthetic and poetological potential of Eichendorff’s „Mandelkerngedicht“. This text, which presents itself as a tongue-in-cheek occasional product, is highly suitable for this purpose, and in a certain way even forces the recipient to think about the construction and functioning of poetry as well as its place in life. The paper focuses particularly on the different dispositives and ‘states of aggregation’ of poems and their interrelation with certain modes of expression and speech. A final look at Poėl’ Karp’s 1969 Russian adaptation places the observations made on the original German text in the cross-linguistic perspective concerning the translation of poetry.