Forsynet, giftermålspolitikken og døden i leilighetsdiktningen til Københavns boktrykker-klan Godiche, Høpffner, Berling og Møller

Walter Baumgartner: Forsynet, giftermålspolitikken og dødeni leilighetsdiktningen til Københavns boktrykker-klan Godiche, Høpffner,Berling og Møller At the beginning of the eighteenth century four of the most important publishinghouses in Copenhagen were owned by a clan of printers that included immigrantsfrom Germany: Høpffner, Godiche, Berling and Glasing/Møller. My case study examinesthe occasional poetry written for weddings, apprentices’ final examinationsand bereavements. This genre, which has always been considered as of little value, ishere taken seriously, with its roots in baroque rhetoric and poetics. It is accorded anaesthetic value and various social and identity-building functions. This is utilitarianpoetry (Gebrauchslyrik) for the prosperous artisan class, which circulated privately orsemi-publicly in the form of elaborately designed single sheets or small booklets. Theauthors were often students or poets who wanted to earn some money. In addition tothe explicit content, symptomatic gaffes and omissions shed light on facts and problemsconcerning ‘das ganze Haus’, the (consanguineous) marriage, the succession, religionand the breaking down of the guild system. The baroque repertoire of topoi and formssoon became inadequate to deal with more recent social and aesthetic developments,and occasional poetry gradually declined after 1800.