Keyword: «anonymity»

The article is focused on the analysis of German expressionist lyric poetry, devoted to the theme of a big city, which aroused ambivalent feelings in the poets of this current: on the one hand, the magical appeal of its lights, noise, fun, recklessness and adventurism, and, on the other hand, - person’s alienation, anonymity, perplexity and hopeless loneliness in a crowd of people. The analysis of the sonnet by Alfred Wolfenstein “Städter’’ demonstrates new writing techniques developed by expressionists, such as simultanism, montage, and intensification.