Education
He studied theology, literature, art history, and philosophy (the latter under Karl Löwith and Hans-Georg Gadamer) at various German universities before enlisting as a soldier in the Second World War.
He studied theology, literature, art history, and philosophy (the latter under Karl Löwith and Hans-Georg Gadamer) at various German universities before enlisting as a soldier in the Second World War.
In his 1976 collection of poems, Im Zeitspalt ("In Time"s Rift"), Meister frankly addresses mortality and the nothingness of our existence as both mind and body decay into death. His poetry is noted for is spare brevity and difficult syntax and has been compared to the work of Romanian poet Paul Celan (1920–1970), Meister"s contemporary in German letters. Ernst Meister was raised in Hagen, Germany.
A number of war-related experiences are worked into his poems, stories, radio plays, and stage plays.
His first major publication, Austellung, appeared in 1932, following which he published nothing for two decades. This period of silence ultimately gave way to the prolific last third of his life.
Between 1953 and 1979, Meister produced more than 16 volumes of verse along with a number of other literary and visual works. He has champions within Germany literature, having been a mentor to the poet and novelist Nicolas Born and leaving many to grapple with his place in the German canon.
Meister"s poetry falls within a dark abstract landscape of existentialism, with tortured themes influenced by his experiences during World World War World War II
Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.