Friedrich Hölderlin

Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843), one of the greatest German lyric poets, whose work bridges the Classical and Romantic schools. His poetry, forgotten for many years, was rediscovered early in the 20th century.

Hölderlin was born in Lauffen-am-Neckar. He studied theology at the University of Tübingen but decided against a career in the Church. The German poet Friedrich von Schiller published some of Hölderlin's early verse in his periodicals and also obtained several tutoring positions for him. After a love affair with his employer's wife, Susette Gontard, the figure of Diotima in his poems and his novel Hyperion (1797-1799), he spent two years in Hamburg where he began to develop his characteristic poetic style. After another period of tutoring Hölderlin suffered in 1802 the first of the periods of mental illness that were to afflict him until his death. In 1807, after some time in a Tübingen institution, he was placed in the care of a local master carpenter named Zimmer. Hölderlin was to spend the rest of his life with Zimmer.

Hölderlin's poetry is characterized by intense subjectivity, but at the same time its expressive quality is tempered by the restraint and balance of Greek classicism. He used no rhyme, writing instead in a flexible poetic form known later as free verse. He is famous principally for his lyrics, including “An die Hoffnung” (On Hope) and “Der blinde Sänger” (The Blind Singer), and for such larger works as the novel Hyperion (2 vols., 1797-1799; trans. 1927), a story of a fighter for Greek freedom, and the unfinished tragedy Der Tod des Empedokles (The Death of Empedocles, 1798-1799).