Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843,) Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin, was a German poet and philosopher, central to German Romanticism and influential in German Idealism. His works blend Greek themes with Christian spirituality.
Born in Lauffen am Neckar, Hölderlin lost his father in 1772. His mother sent him to study theology at the University of Tübingen (1788–93,) where he befriended Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling. Struggling with religious dogma, he pursued poetry.
His novel Hyperion (1797–99; Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece, 1965) reflects admiration for Greek ideals. His poetry collections Brot und Wein (1800; Bread and Wine, 1980) and Friedensfeier (1801; Celebration of Peace, 2004) explore nature, divinity, and longing. He also wrote Der Tod des Empedokles (1798–1800; The Death of Empedocles, 1962,) an unfinished tragedy.
Institutionalized in 1806, he later lived in Tübingen under carpenter Ernst Zimmer’s care, writing until his death. His poetry gained recognition in the 20th century, influencing Martin Heidegger.
Wilhelm Waiblinger’s Friedrich Hölderlin’s Life, Poetry, and Madness (1823) examines his struggles, while Pierre Bertaux’s Hölderlin (1950) analyzes his poetry and philosophy.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Friedrich Holderlin
What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it heaven.
—Friedrich Holderlin
Topics: Realistic Expectations, Acceptance
He who has thought most deeply loves what is most alive.
—Friedrich Holderlin
We are nothing; what we search for is everything.
—Friedrich Holderlin
What is all that men have done and thought over thousands of years, compared with one moment of love. But in all Nature, too, it is what is nearest to perfection, what is most divinely beautiful! There all stairs lead from the threshold of life. From there we come, to there we go.
—Friedrich Holderlin
What is the wisdom of a book compared with the wisdom of an angel?
—Friedrich Holderlin
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