“The Watch on the Rhine”:

Images of Germania, from the poem by Max Schneckenburger to the monument by Johannes Schilling

Abstract

The present article analyzes, according to literary criticism and image analysis, how, from the Rhine Movement (1840) to the early years of the foundation of the German Empire (1871-1883), the figure of Germania was instrumentalized by poets, painters, and sculptors. At the time of the publication of the poem " The Watch on the Rhine" (1840) by Max Schneckenburger, an imaginative literary figure of a vigil on the Rhine was constructed, incorporating various discourses related to nationalist issues in a context of imminent confrontation with France. A whole textual and visual culture was conceived during the so-called long 19th century, focusing on this figure of Germania, which takes on increasingly defined forms as the political contours of the new German state and its warlike ideology are delineated. The climax of its reception is the inauguration of the Niederwald Monument (1883) by Johannes Schilling, as a celebration of victory in the Franco-Prussian War. Furthermore, it can be observed that this figure continues to be invoked in turbulent moments when notions of identity and national unity are sought, as was the case during the First World War.