First published 1800
This collection presents the poetic journey of Friedrich Hölderlin, the German Romantic whose passionate affair with Susette Gontard, a banker's wife, ignited his greatest creative period. The volume opens with the intimate epigrams and soaring odes born from this forbidden love, where personal devotion becomes universal longing. Hölderlin then ventures into vast hymnic sequences that sweep from ancient mythology through the European discovery of America to his contemporary moment. The poet weaves together Greek gods and Christian symbols as he searches for meaning amid political upheaval and personal uncertainty. The collection concludes with the mysterious "Canticles of Night," fragmentary pieces written in a radical new style that would later influence the Symbolists and Surrealists. Throughout, Hölderlin struggles between the classical world he revered and the modern age he inhabited, creating poetry that bridges ancient wisdom and contemporary doubt.
Genres: 20th-century, poetry, 19th-century, romanticism
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, lyrical
Tropes: forbidden-love, search-for-meaning
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
352 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics