author
Otfried Krzyzanowski
1886–1918
A little-known Austrian poet of the early 20th century, he wrote with a raw, restless intensity that fits the Expressionist mood of his time. His life was brief and difficult, and that urgency can be felt in the poems he left behind.
1 Audiobook
Unser täglich Gift: Gedichte
by Otfried Krzyzanowski
About the author
Born in Starnberg, Bavaria, on June 25, 1886, Otfried Krzyzanowski grew up in Vienna from 1897 onward. He was the son of the writer and translator Heinrich Krzyzanowski, and he later studied at the University of Vienna, with sources describing his studies as philosophy or art history.
Krzyzanowski became known as a bohemian lyric poet associated with Austrian Expressionism. His writing carries a dark, searching energy, and his best-known collection, Unser täglich Gift, reflects the intensity and unease of life in the years around the First World War.
His life ended tragically young in Vienna on November 30, 1918. Later accounts describe him as a forgotten or rediscovered poet, and that sense of loss still shapes how his work is read today.