Hölderlin's poetic world, seen at its most coherent in the mature poetry of 1800-02, is part classical and Homeric, part allegorical and vague, and part based on the true geography of his beloved homeland, Swabia — his 'Vaterland'. Constantine considers the imaginative processes by which such a world is created, and what kind of poetic intelligence Hölderlin's was.
This book, originally published in paperback in 1979 under the ISBN 978-0-900547-53-9, was made Open Access in 2024 as part of the MHRA Revivals programme.
Contents:
i-vii, 1-159
The Significance of Locality in the Poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin David J. Constantine Complete volume as single PDF
Just as there is a Homeric world and a world of Dante or of Thomas Hardy, so too, although of a different kind, there is a Hölderlin world, one he has created, in which he works out his themes and with which his name may always be associated. It is characteristically his, the creation of one man. Its form and salient features can be understood only through him, because the world was shaped in the likeness of his ideas. The purpose of this first chapter is to define, briefly, the nature of Hölderlin's world, seen at its most coherent in the mature poetry of 1800-02, a world which has something of the three types mentioned, but which is not entirely any one of them; and also to begin to consider the imaginative processes by which such a world is created, to consider what kind of poetic intelligence Hölderlin's was. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
Hölderlin's world, as I described it in my first chapter, evolved at the turn of the century, was stable and, in its idea, coherent throughout 1801 when the great hymns were written, and began to disintegrate early in 1802, after Hölderlin's return from Bordeaux. Before 1799 the places used in his poetry were either quite disparate, or only loosely associated in a conventional manner. After 1802 his world first expanded beyond his control and then shrank back to the scope of his room in Tübingen. This second chapter deals with the use Hölderlin made of locality before 1799. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
Hölderlin obstinately believed in a revival of the Greek ideal, in another coming of the Greek genius, and because he was a great patriot he believed Germany would be its new home. Hölderlin externalized this idea by creating an imaginary world, whose constituent places were related as his theory demanded. It had to be shown that Germany would inherit from Greece. The world had to be arranged to show the genius of civilization recurring, after a long absence, in Germany. The progress of the ideal was mapped out in mythical geography. For a year or so the idea remained simple and definite, and accordingly, with complete confidence, the poetry gave form to it. The great hymns of 1801 are the clearest expression of the idea, and in them Hölderlin's mythical world is contained; but the beginnings were earlier, in two or three poems written at the turn of the century. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
Hölderlin went wherever circumstances, fortunate or unfortunate, sent him, having neither the time nor the money to go anywhere else. Thus the journeys to Waltershausen, Frankfurt, Hauptwyl, and Bordeaux. He went wherever a job was offered him. Without a job, and without much money he might have gone on the road as many of the Romantics did. Why did he never try to reach his ideal land? The Romantics set out enthusiastically for the south-their poetry needed the inspiration of the real journey. Even Goethe got as far as Sicily. But Hölderlin never made the least attempt to see Greece, nor even the surrogate Italy, although a journey no more strenuous than the one to Bordeaux would have got him on to classical ground. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
If full topographical descriptions are rare in the letters they are almost entirely absent from the poetry. There are almost no factual descriptions in his poems; Hölderlin was opposed to that kind of writing. But the absence of descriptive passages from his letters suggests that in prose or poetry factual description was something he was incapable of. And this is interesting in a writer to whom so many places, near and exotic alike, were so attractive and important; who travelled and was an avid reader of other travellers' accounts, and who had a vision of his homeland and of Greece that he must communicate. How then is the vision communicated, if not through factual description? That is the question to be considered in this chapter. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
In Stuttgart Hölderlin learned of Susette Gontard's death. He had left her two years before, and from that date onwards his personal life had been a matter of less and less concern to him. He lived increasingly in the impersonal world of poetic obsession. As the ideal woman she had a place in Hölderlin's mythology and could never be lost. The myth remained, ineradicable, despite separation and even despite death. At the same time, although Hölderlin increasingly disregarded the fact, there was another self that had to make shift in the everyday world of material want. In the two years' absence from Susette Gontard Hölderlin had known nothing-in real, personal terms -but harassment, disappointment, and incomprehension. In those terms he will have felt her death to be a final and unbearable affliction. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
It is generally true of Hölderlin's mature poems that they are backward- or forward-looking. They oscillate, even within one poem, between the ideal past, Greece, and the ideal future, the new Hesperia. At the height of his powers it was this concern for the ideal future (based on the ideal past) that Hölderlin felt to be his prime responsibility. The present was not ideal; to be content with it would be the greatest irresponsibility and a betrayal of the hope for the future. There are no instances in the poems of 1800 to 1801 of Hölderlin's being content with the immediate present, with the real circumstances of his own life and his times. Note cues in this chapter refer to endnotes in the end matter of the book.
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Bibliography entry:
Constantine, David J., The Significance of Locality in the Poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin, MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 12 (MHRA, 1979)
First footnote reference:35 David J. Constantine, The Significance of Locality in the Poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin, MHRA Texts and Dissertations, 12 (MHRA, 1979), p. 21.
Subsequent footnote reference:37 Constantine, p. 47.
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