Becker, 82, was presented with the prize, worth 50,000 euros ($63,348), at a ceremony on Saturday in the southwestern city of Darmstadt.

In a commendatory speech, the literature expert and author Lutz Seiler praised Becker for having developed an individual technique of narration.

Seiler, who this month won the German Book Prize for his novel "Kruso," described Becker's poems as "transparent, casual in tone, unconstrained in their progression," adding that they were concerned with "the random patterns of our existence."

Becker, who was born in Cologne in 1932, has published numerous works in prose and poetry, as well as radio plays. They include the early experimental works "Felder" ("Fields"), "Ränder" ("Edges"), and poetry collections such as "Das Ende der Landschaftsmalerei" ("The End of Landscape Painting") and "Foxtrott im Erfurter Stadion" ("Foxtrot in Erfurt Stadium").

Historical prize

Speaking of his own style at the presentation ceremony on Saturday, Becker said that he used words "the way painters use colors and composers use sounds."

The Georg Büchner Prize, awarded by the German Academy for Language and Literature (DASD), is considered to be one of the most important awards for German-language literature. It is named after the German dramatist, poet and revolutionary Georg Büchner (1813-1837), who among other things wrote the play "Woyzeck" - a work that later achieved additional renown as the basis for the groundbreaking opera "Wozzeck" by Austrian composer Alban Berg (1885-1935).

The prize, which was first awarded in 1923, was originally intended for "writers, artists, outstanding performing artists, actors and singers" from, or associated with, Büchner's home state of Hesse. In 1951, it was turned into a literary award to be presented by the DASF.

Former winners of the award include Günter Grass (1965), Heinrich Böll (1967), Erich Kästner (1957) and Elfriede Jelinek (1998).

tj/nm (epd, dpa)