Paul Boldt

Paul Boldt was a German poet associated with Expressionism, born in Christfelde in West Prussia in 1885 and dead in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1921. Standard reference sources identify him as a lyric poet and writer, and modern summaries of his life place him among the notable poetic voices of German Expressionism.

Accounts of his life describe a short career and a reputation that never became as wide as that of some of his contemporaries. A recurring detail in biographical sources is that he published only one poetry collection during his lifetime, which helps explain why he is often described as an overlooked or neglected figure today.

Even so, Boldt's poetry has lasted. He is especially remembered for intense, image-rich writing linked to the Expressionist moment, and for work connected with the literary atmosphere of Berlin in the years around the First World War.