Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843)

Hölderlin led quite a tragic life, influenced by mental illness and his mutual love for Susette Gontard, wife of his employer. He worked as a house teacher and taught the Gontards' children until the affair was discovered and he was dismissed.
I think that Hölderlin is a fascinating character, but unfortunately, reading his poems was mostly a chore to me. I did enjoy the love poems he wrote to Susette Gontard and several others that were easier to understand, but most of them went over my show more head, despite the extensive notes provided by the editor. It seems that even specialists struggle with the texts sometimes, as is apparent in the many questions and uncertainties included in the notes.
The book includes 77 poems, chosen by Hölderlin expert Gerhard Kurz. Many of them are really long and also hard to grasp. It does not help that the topics do not seem that relevant or even understandable today, such as the course of history flowing from the "orient" to the "occident" and the Christian god as a kind of successor or ending point of the old world of Greek gods. Most poems are heavily influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, and it was hard to follow them without having an extensive knowledge of that. The French Revolution also plays a big part, as Hölderlin had high hopes for it.
The language is very complicated, too. The poems are full of inversions and long, complex sentences.
As said above, I liked the poems that had more personal topics. The others are certainly artistic and show the work of a very smart and capable mind, but they did not have much to say to me today. show less

A tratti mi ha dato la sensazione di veleggiare sospinto dall'etere (elemento più nobile dell'aria).
Da una lettura come questa si esce ingentiliti.
Merito, grande merito, dell'ottimo lavoro di introduzione, traduzione e commento.

Un'unica cosa: con l'insorgere della follia Hoelderlin diventa poco meglio di Bondi... le ultime liriche del libro sembrano scritte da un altro. Che cosa gli sarà successo? Urge biografia.

This review is going to be short, because there's not much to say about my experience with Hyperion by Friedrich Holderlin. I checked out this book from the library (thank goodness I didn't pay money for it) because it's on the ever-popular 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

I found it to be over-the-top and inadvertently funny in its melodrama and all the crazy emotional responses of the main character. I get that it's fitting with the genre of this novel, but it just wasn't to my show more taste. I can see its literary value and I probably would have enjoyed this much more if I had been reading it for a class and analyzing it for its themes and symbols. As a personal read, however, it just wasn't my style. I didn't at all like the main character and found the story itself slow and a little boring. show less

Holderlin was one among a group of German Romantic poets that were on the periphery of German Idealism. Along with Novalis and Schiller, his work utilizes Idealist concepts in an overtly aesthetic framework. Like many German Romantic poets and philosophers, he is often ignored by the sottish tendency to over indulge in the less memorable and often pointless philosophers of the late 19th and 20th century. This book is a collection of some of his later poetry. His output came to an end after show more losing his mind. He is often cited as an influence of Nietzsche. This is hardly a worthy addendum to his life and work, however. Nietzsche wished he could have been Holderlin in truth. Nietzsche was able to emulate his madness, but not his aesthetic beauty. He emulated his language, but not his profundity. Sadly, Nietzsche took the high bar that was set by poets and philosophers like Holderlin and lowered it significantly. Egoism is utterly at odds with Holderlin and the Idealists in general. Even though Holderlin did go mad, just as Nietzsche did, Holderlin lost his wits before he lost his mind, whereas Nietzsche lost his mind before he lost his wits. In other words, Holderlin was aware when his illness was approaching and stopped his output before madness crept in; Nietzsche was unaware of his madness when it was already apparent -way before he showed a fondness for horses. I say all of that because the attempt to lump Holderlin in with Nietzsche, as is often done, does him an incredible disservice and misrepresents him terribly. He should be known for something more than an influence of Nietzsche's.
Holderlin's poetry owes a lot to the Greek classic and epic poets. He attempted to use the Greek poetic syntax in the German language. German and Greek share certain commonalities of structure and nuance that allowed Holderlin to do this successfully. In English translation some of this is lost, but he wrote largely in free verse so no rhyming scheme is lost in translation. Not everyone will be able to appreciate his poetry. He is actually unique among the Romantic poets; his structures are often complex and betray a theme not always readily apparent. There is some verse in here that is quite profound and would be utterly lost on the average Nietzschean I would wager.
I have just started to read Holderlin's prose works, which are incredibly important for Idealism; even though they often do not get the credit they deserve. He marks the point between Fichte and Hegel in the tradition of Idealism. Novalis has some place there as well, but his writings are often of a more mystical variety than an Idealist one. I am more familiar with Novalis' prose works and I have not read his poetry, so I don't know if stylistically the two poets are similar. Holderlin does share some basic Romantic tendencies with Blake and Coleridge and I would definitely recommend him to people who like those poets.” show less