Däubler, Theodor
(8/17/1876 Triest - 6/13/1934 St. Blasien/Black Forest in southwest Germany)
The son of a rich merchant family from Augsburg; fluent in the two languages spoken in Austrian Triest, he lived until 1900 in Italy. Beginning in 1901, he was often in Paris, where he busied himself with the Arts Academy and the Impressionists. In WWI, he was exempted from military duty and was a war correspondent in Dresden and Berlin. Afterwards, he became a wandering poet, between Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria. In 1926, he was chosen President of the German section of the PEN-Club. In 1932, he was diagnosed with severe tuberculosis and succumbed two years later.
Däubler's major- and life's work is the 30,000 verse epic poem The North Light (first published in 1910 and continuously expanded), in which he developed his own mythology, whose center is formed around clarifying sunlight as the origin of life. He connected the discipline of classical forms with the eloquence of expressionistic pathos, hymn-like language and extensive symbolism. Other works include We Do Not Want to Stay (autobiographical fragments, Munich 1914); Attica Sonnets (Leipzig, 1924).
A bridge to Trakl was already built through his friendship with Erhard Buschbeck, particularly in Innsbruck, where he participated in the “Brenner” circle around Ludwig von Ficker and held a reading on 11/22/1912. With a further stay in spring of 1914, he engaged Trakl in extensive sit-down discussions and on walks.
He wrote about his spring of 1914 meetings with Trakl in 1921 
.