He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin, but spent much of his life traveling through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, primarily in a vain attempt to recover his health.

Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910): Embedded in his humorous poetry is a subtle metaphysical streak, as e.g. in "Vice Versa", (1905): Ein Hase sitzt auf einer Wiese, des Glaubens, niemand sähe diese.

Gerolf Steiner's mock-scientific book about the fictitious animal order Rhinogradentia (1961), inspired by Morgenstern's nonsense poem Das Nasobēm, is testament to his enduring popularity.

Christian Morgenstern was also an acclaimed translator, rendering into German various prominent works from Norwegian and French, including the dramas and poems of Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and August Strindberg.

19), Siegfried Strohbach (5 Galgenlieder), Graham Waterhouse (Gruselett, Der Werwolf), Timothy Hoekman ("Der Werwolf" in Drei Legenden) and Alexander von Zemlinsky (Es waren zwei Kinder, Vöglein Schwermut, Der Abend, Abendkelch voll Sonnenlicht, Du gabst mir deine Kette and Auf dem Meere meiner Seele), Andres Condon (CD Corazon de Aguila) and Meinrad Kneer (Meinrad Kneer's Phosphoros Ensemble plays Christian Morgenstern).

These include: A complete edition of the works of Christian Morgenstern in German in nine volumes is currently being prepared by Verlag Urachhaus (Stuttgart) under the direction of Professor Reinhardt Habel.