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.” …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