The first half of the 20th century represents a particularly interesting chapter in German poetry. Prominent names at the beginning include Stefan George, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Following this, Expressionism ushered in a productive and intense phase, succeeded by Dadaism and functional poetry (Kästner, Tucholsky), until National Socialist poetry dominated the scene between 1933 and 1945, while other poets retreated into introspection and nature description or wrote against the Third Reich from exile. Ralf Schnell sheds light on the works of these and other authors in this brief yet informative introduction, primarily through short individual interpretations.