No pudimos ser amables

Poetry occupies a central place in the work of Bertolt Brecht and without it the scope and greatness of his creative project cannot be understood. Brecht wrote poems from his youth to his last days and they were the tool with which he addressed the world and reacted to the circumstances of his time. A key figure in 20th century German literature, he was recognized as an essential poet even by those who felt very far from his vital and political attitudes, such as Elias Canetti or Hannah Arendt. His writing, which draws on both learned and popular sources, announces many directions in contemporary poetry: of course, social poetry, but also dirty realism, colloquial poetry or so-called 'anti-poetry'.