Hölderlin, Friedrich

Hölderlin, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh hölˈdərlĭn [key], 1770–1843, German lyric poet. Befriended and influenced by Schiller, Hölderlin produced, before the onset of insanity at 36, lofty yet subjective poetry, modeled on classic Greek verse. Little known outside Germany, he is highly regarded by critics and is generally considered to be a link between the classic and romantic schools. Besides lyrics (1820), he wrote an elegiac novel in prose, Hyperion (1797–99; tr. in Pierce and Schreiber, Fact and Fancy of German Romance, 1927), and a dramatic fragment, Der Tod des Empedokles (1799). Selections of his verse were translated by Christopher Middleton (1973) and Michael Hamburger (1980)

See studies by E. E. George ed.(1972), and R. Unger (1984).

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