The Troubled German Poet Who Truly Worshipped Greece

Friedrich Hölderlin was an important German Romantic lyric poet whose great work managed to bridge the Classical and Romantic traditions in literature and poetry and was deeply inspired by ancient Greece.

Throughout his tumultuous life, Hölderlin had a strong and deep passion for and engagement with anything related to Greece and more importantly ancient Greek culture, mythology, and philosophy. These elements profoundly shaped his poetic vision and ideas that ended up promoting philhellenism in his native country.

Hölderlin’s Early Life and Education

Born in the 18th century, and more precisely in 1770 in a town called Lauffen am Neckar, in Württemberg, modern-day Germany, Hölderlin started early his academic life. He studied theology at the Tübinger Stift seminary. There, he met fascinating characters such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, who would later go on to become fundamentally leading figures of German Idealism.

It was during this time that Hölderlin learned how to read and speak ancient Greek and immediately began the daunting yet fulfilling task of translating Greek literature. However, he became increasingly disillusioned with the real prospect of a career in the Lutheran ministry, as it didn’t seem to fulfill his dreams. Thus, truly inspired by the ancient Greeks, Hölderlin took the risky decision to devote himself completely to poetry instead.

Hölderlin’s Conception of Ancient Greece

For Hölderlin, the Greek pantheon and its glorious gods were not simply abstract symbols. For his Greek-loving soul, these gods were the definition of living, wonderfully life-giving presences that inspired human minds.

The German poet fused the Orphic and Dionysian aspects of the ancient Greek religion with the more contemporary Christian Pietism of his native Swabia. Hölderlin perceived ancient Greece as an ideal form of unity between humanity and nature. According to his beliefs, this had been lost in modern times and needed to make a comeback.

He also believed that poetry had a real power to help restore this lost unity and reconnect people with the divine, regardless of their origin and class. Although he never visited Greece, which was at that time occupied by the Ottomans, Hölderlin drew great inspiration from the Greek natural world and luminous Mediterranean landscape. We can say that he was a true admirer of the Greek idea.

The Influence of Greek Mythology and Literature on Hölderlin’s Poetry

Many famous and popular Greek mythological figures and members of the Greek pantheon such as Heracles, Dionysus, Apollo, Zeus, and Helios, the sun god, feature prominently in the works of his poetry. Hölderlin’s poems very often celebrate these Greek gods. However, he also explores more somber themes, such as exile, loss, and alienation.

Hölderlin translated the plays of Oedipus Rex and Antigone of Sophocles into the German language, interpreting them for the modern age to be accessible to the average person. He also translated the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar, whose work greatly influenced his own hymns and odes throughout his lifetime. Other major poems that he wrote, which were deeply influenced by other Greek myths and more broadly the Greek culture include Hyperion’s Song of Destiny, the Archipelago, Bread and Wine, and Patmos.

Hölderlin’s Philosophical Engagement with Ancient Greece

Apart from the fact that he was a great poet, Hölderlin was also a contemporary philosopher who was truly and deeply engaged with Greek thought and the big ideas that people such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato had promoted. He was very critical of the separation of humanity from nature and the divine that defined modern times. This contrasted with the unity and wholeness he perceived in ancient Greece, a reason why he fell in love with it so profoundly.

Hölderlin’s only novel, Hyperion, explores the real struggle of an individual who tried to reconcile modern life with the Greek ideal and everything that ancient Greece represented. His deeply rooted philosophical ideas about ancient Greece also influenced his friends Hegel and Schelling and played a crucial and defining role in shaping the development of German Idealism as a whole. One could even argue that Hölderlin’s thought had an impact on later philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger.

Although the life of Hölderlin was marked by personal tragedy, including a mental breakdown that left him completely institutionalized for the last 36 years of his life, his radiant, luminous, and truly rapturous poetry as well as his deep philosophical ideas have undoubtedly secured his place as one of Germany’s greatest poets.

Hölderlin’s profound engagement with ancient Greece, its mythology, culture, and thought, was absolutely fundamental and central focal points to his poetic and intellectual vision, that shaped his overall character profoundly.

He saw in ancient Greece a lost ideal of unity and wholeness that he genuinely believed could help people heal the pain, divisions, and alienations of the modern world. Through his numerous translations as well as poems, essays, as well as his novel, Hölderlin brought the once-forgotten ancient Greeks back to life for modern readers whose native tongue was German. This helped blend the Greek myths and ideas with his own Romantic sensibility, leading to the creation of a body of work of true beauty and power.