{"id":111583,"date":"2017-06-06T18:20:46","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T22:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=111583"},"modified":"2017-06-07T10:28:16","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T14:28:16","slug":"o-majestic-poet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/","title":{"rendered":"O Majestic Poet"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

H\u00f6lderin, as painted by Franz Karl Hiemer.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Look at that fresh-faced man. That\u2019s Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, baby. Poet, idealist, quintessential German romantic. Suffering from schizophrenia, he spent thirty-six years\u2014about half his life\u2014living in a carpenter\u2019s tower on the river in T\u00fcbingen. People would stop in to visit him, hear him read a few poems or play a brief tune on the piano, maybe collect his autograph. Scholars have come to call this his \u201cTower Period.\u201d Every poet should have one.<\/p>\n

H\u00f6lderlin died on June 7, 1843. You may not have carved out any time to mourn the 174th anniversary of his passing\u2014you may think you have more important affairs to attend to. He did write, after all, that\u00a0\u201che who has thought most deeply loves what is most alive,\u201d which would seem to preclude loving a long-dead man. Still.\u00a0If you\u2019d like to pause and remember the great poet, Rilke will help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In our Winter 1981 issue, we published a series of Rilke translations by Stephen Mitchell, among which is \u201cTo H\u00f6lderlin<\/a>.\u201d An affecting eulogy, it lauds the poet as a \u201cwandering spirit\u201d who played with the \u201cinfinite joy\u201d that \u201cgodlike children\u201d had scattered \u201con the gentle lawns of the earth.\u201d And it celebrates the smoldering intensity of his verse:<\/p>\n

To you, O majestic poet, to you the compelling image,
\nO caster of spells, was a life, entire; when you uttered it
\na line snapped shut like fate; there was a death
\neven in the mildest, and you walked straight into it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read \u201cTo H\u00f6lderlin<\/a>\u201d here, and ask yourself if it is not high time for your tower period to begin. If it is, subscribe to The Paris Review<\/em><\/a>, which will greatly ease your transition into tower living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1188],"tags":[370,26616,29088,19907,28964,29089,165,2047,160,29090,16598],"class_list":["post-111583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-archive","tag-back-issues","tag-digital-subscription","tag-friedrich-holderlin","tag-from-the-archive","tag-german-romanticism","tag-german-romantics","tag-poetry","tag-poets","tag-rainer-maria-rilke","tag-to-holderlin","tag-vintage-issues"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTo H\u00f6lderlin (from Rilke with Love)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"O Majestic Poet by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 6, 2017 \u2013 Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"982\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"O Majestic Poet\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\"},\"wordCount\":307,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"back issues\",\"digital subscription\",\"Friedrich Holderlin\",\"from the archive\",\"German Romanticism\",\"German romantics\",\"poetry\",\"poets\",\"Rainer Maria Rilke\",\"To Holderlin\",\"vintage issues\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From the Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\",\"name\":\"To H\u00f6lderlin (from Rilke with Love)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"O Majestic Poet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\",\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Piepenbring\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To H\u00f6lderlin (from Rilke with Love)","description":"Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"O Majestic Poet by Dan Piepenbring","og_description":"June 6, 2017 \u2013 Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":982,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Piepenbring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Piepenbring","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Piepenbring","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8"},"headline":"O Majestic Poet","datePublished":"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/"},"wordCount":307,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg","keywords":["back issues","digital subscription","Friedrich Holderlin","from the archive","German Romanticism","German romantics","poetry","poets","Rainer Maria Rilke","To Holderlin","vintage issues"],"articleSection":["From the Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/","name":"To H\u00f6lderlin (from Rilke with Love)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg","datePublished":"2017-06-06T22:20:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-07T14:28:16+00:00","description":"Friedrich H\u00f6lderlin, who spent half his life in a tower, died 174 years ago. Rainer Maria Rilke memorialized him in poem published in our Winter 1981 issue:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/hoelderlin_1792.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/06\/o-majestic-poet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"O Majestic Poet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8","name":"Dan Piepenbring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Piepenbring"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111583"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111596,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111583\/revisions\/111596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}