A review by msand3
Selected Poems and Fragments by Friedrich Hölderlin

4.0

One of my favorite Romantic poets. While in Austria over the summer of '07, I made a special trip to Tübingen just to visit Hölderlin Tower (and the infamous "Goethe Puked Here" tavern sign). These poems brought me back to my time in Bavaria and the Black Forest; in fact, it almost feels like these poems demand to be read in those locations for the full experience. In terms of this collection, I felt that the translations were a little rigid at times, but I still enjoyed having all the best works in one volume, especially a sampling of Hölderlin's later work in the midst of his mental collapse. I also hadn't read many of the hexameters or elegies before, so those were worth the read alone.