Homecoming (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Friedrich Hölderlin
- First Published: 1802
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Religion, God, Eighteenth century, Germany or German people
The Poem
“Homecoming” is the last of Friedrich Hölderlin’s eight elegies. It consists of six stanzas of eighteen lines each, for a total of fifty-four elegiac distichs. The poem begins with unqualified expressions of joy in the sight and sounds of a world disclosing itself in its pristine relation. It then moves to a somberness still marked by joy but wrought with care: The poet must care, if others cannot, about apprehending the divine source of joyousness and finding names for the High Ones to supersede the outworn terms that have lost the glory of radiant holiness....
[The entire page is 1661 words long]
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