Ermutigung

It was first published in 1968 in the poetry collection Mit Marx- und Engelszungen by Verlag Klaus Wagenbach [de], which also released the poem set to music as part of the single "4 neue Lieder" ("4 New Songs").

Since 1949, Huchel had been the editor in chief of the literary publication Sinn und Form, which enjoyed an international reputation as a platform for East German literature.

For the following nine years, Huchel lived under surveillance by the Stasi, isolated in his house in Wilhelmshorst from much of the outside world aside from a small number of friends who were permitted to visit.

[3] After the publication of his book of poetry Die Drahtharfe (The Wire Harp) in 1965 through the West German publisher Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Biermann had been forbidden from performing or publishing by the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party and described himself as having achieved the status of an "officially recognized enemy of the state"[4] In a 1973 interview with Franz Hohler, he stated that did not write the song just for his friend and honorable colleague Peter Huchel, but "also for myself".

The final verse is sung a perfect fourth higher, leading to a more pressed tone of voice that emphasizes the metaphor of the budding green branches of a coming spring.

[9] Peter Rühmkorf summarized the content in Rezensentenprosa: "Whoever does not allow themselves to be worn down, embittered, hardened, or used will ultimately break free from the circle of terror, pressure, and racketeering to participate in a new comradely or community spirit."

Rühmkorf highlights the allusion to Pentecost, which is typical for the religious allegories often found in Biermann's work, labeling the poem as "Good News".

The defiant and hopeful spring metaphor can be interpreted as a counterexample to the nature poetry of Peter Huchel, whose works take a drearier and elegiac tone.

[11] Beate Pinkerneil [Wikidata] considered the poem a celebration of "the art of living and survival", as it harkens back to Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin's resolution to bring "cheerfulness into suffering" from his novel Hyperion.

The poem's plea is not to become accustomed to one's own unhappiness, but instead to resist any creeping embitterment and hardening with a "lighthearted confidence and cheerful composure in the middle of cemetery peace", delivered with the soft voice of subversive art and an "attestation of determined solidarity".