Thought Poems

A translation of Heidegger's verse

This is the first major translation of Heidegger's verse; a complete double-language translation of Band 81 of his Gesamtausgabe.

They are not poems, as he stipulated, but rather "Thought-poems" or "Thoems" (i.e. not Gedichte but Gedachte) - with some love letters and many notes on his philosophy throughout. This was tricky: I had to be heedful of the meaning of the German but also heedful of the philosophical import; thirdly, I had to be heedful of the music Heidegger was so attentive to in writing these: to preserve his strangening of the language. Took me years.

"Walls' translation of Heidegger's Thought Poems (Gedachtes) will prove to be the most authoritative and illuminating commentary on and annotation to Heidegger's voluminous philosophical, discursive, and analytical work.... Walls' magnificent translation utterly transforms Heidegger's legacy from here on. Essential." — N. Lukacher, emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago; Choice Reviews

Click here to buy; if you would rather read a sample first, here's a sample poem.