To the Fates (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Friedrich Hölderlin
- First Published: 1800
- Type of Work: Ode
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry, Ode
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Poetry or poets, Women, Death or dying, Fate or fatalism, Peace, Life and death, Time, Seasons, Shades or shadows
The Poem
“To the Fates” is an Alcaic ode, its twelve unrhymed lines divided into three four-line stanzas. The unstressed and stressed syllables of each line are adapted from a classical Greek pattern; Friedrich Hölderlin was Germany’s most accomplished poet at using these challenging forms. The poem is written in the first person. Its title is a call to the three Fates—a group of three grotesque old women who spun, measured, and finally cut the thread of life for each human being, according to myth. Hölderlin uses the Roman word Parcae to refer to them...
[The entire page is 1355 words long]
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