Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Hölderlin

“ And it has even conjured up for itself a leader, or forerunner of the leader: not in the form of a human being of flesh and blood, but in the form of a dead man, a single deceased individual who had been forgotten by the nation for nearly a hundred years, but whose spiritual presence and power seems so great and unusual to the present generation rallying about him that we should rather speak of it as a religious phenomenon than a purely literary one. This man who was reborn, called back from the grave by the pressure of a whole generation, is the poet Friedrich Hölderlin. ”

“ Hyperion expresses himself on one occasion in the words: "O ein Gott ist der Mensch, wenn er träumt, ein Bettler, wenn er nachdenkt, und wenn die Begeisterung hin ist, steht er da, wie ein missrathener Sohn, den der Vater aus dem Hause stiess, und betrachtet die ärmlichen Pfennige, die ihm das Mitleid auf den Weg gab," [25] which further illustrates the extravagant idealism by which he allowed himself to be carried away, and the etherial and thoroughly unpractical trend of his mind. The flights of fancy of which Hölderlin is capable are well illustrated by another passage in "Hyperion." ”

“ In marching to the front, the men must be accustomed to dress to the center, which they will have to do when exercising in the battalion; and for this purpose a sergeant must be placed six paces in front of the center, who will take some object in front to serve as a direction for him to march straight forward; and the men must look inwards, and regulate their march by him. The captain must exercise his company in different sorts of ground ”

“ Schubart was one of Hölderlin's earliest favorites, so that the latter was doubtless in this way imbued with sentiments which could only grow stronger under the influence of his more mature observations and experiences. Even in his eighteenth year, in a poem "An die Demut," [41] he gives expression in strong terms to his patriotic feelings, in which his disgust with his faint-hearted, servile compatriots and his defiance of "Fürstenlaune" and "Despotenblut" are plainly evident. So too in "Männerjubel," 1788:
Es glimmt in uns ein Funke der Göttlichen! ”

“ A captain cannot be too careful of the company the state has committed to his charge. He must pay the greatest attention to the health of his men, their discipline, arms, accoutrements, ammunition, clothes and necessaries. ”

“ The unhappy Hölderlin dreams of vaster creations, but goes no farther than a dream: Germany is a world in itself, and Greece is another; the inspiration of a Goethe is needed to unite them, and to fix in eternal words the triumph of Faust, the ravisher of Helen. Hölderlin writes fragments of a poem in prose: his hero is a young Greek, who laments over the ruin of his race and, frail forerunner of Zarathustra, calls for the rebirth of a valorous humanity. ”

“ All the way across the continent of North America Hollister grew more and more restive under the accumulating knowledge that the horrible devastation of his features made a No Man's Land about him which few had the courage to cross. ”

“ A company is to be formed in two ranks, at one pace distance, with the tallest men in the rear, and both ranks sized, with the shortest men of each in the center. A company thus drawn up is to be divided into two sections or platoons; the captain to take post on the right of the first platoon, covered by a sergeant; the lieutenant on the right of the second platoon, also covered by a sergeant; the ensign four paces behind the center of the company; the first sergeant two paces behind the centre of the first platoon, and the eldest corporal two paces behind the second platoon ”

“ He also edited or assisted in editing a number of periodical publications on legal subjects. From 1866 to the time of his death he was associated with Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow in editing Sammlung gemeinverständlicher wissenschaftlicher Vorträge (Berlin) . Von Holtzendorff died at Munich on the 4th of February 1889. ”

“ He composes three scenes of a tragedy, taking for his hero Empedocles, tyrant of Agrigentum, poet, philosopher, haughty inspirer of the multitude, a Greek isolated among the Greeks by reason [Pg 34] of his very greatness, a magician, who, possessing all nature, wearies of the satisfactions which one life can offer, retires to the summit of Etna, sends away his family, his friends, his appealing people, and flings himself, one evening, at sunset, into the crater.
The work is full of power; but Hölderlin abandons it. His melancholy enfeebles and exalts him. ”

“ The commanding officer of each battalion will inspect the sick before they are sent from the battalion, in order that none may be sent but those who are really incapable of marching with their regiments. And the officers commanding the escort will be answerable that no soldiers are permitted to march with the baggage on any pretense whatever, except the quartermaster sergeant of each regiment, as before directed. ”

“ Whenever a regiment is to remain more than one night on the same ground, the soldiers must be obliged to cut a small trench round their tents, to carry off the rain; but great care must be taken they do not throw the dirt up against the tents.
One officer of a company must every day visit the tents ”

“ Each regiment will furnish a non-commissioned officer to conduct the sick and lame who are not able to march with their regiments. These men are to repair, at the beating of the general, to the rendezvous appointed, where a sufficient number of empty wagons will be ordered to attend for the reception of their knapsacks, and their arms if necessary. A surgeon of each brigade is to attend the sick belonging to it. ”

“ They were happy in their worship of beauty in art and in nature, and above all, happy in their creativeness. The question suggests itself here, whether a poet can ever be a genuine pessimist, since he has within him the everlasting impulse to create. And to create is to hope. Hyperion himself says: "Es lebte nichts, wenn es nicht hoffte." [62] But we have already distinguished between pessimism as a system of philosophy, and Weltschmerz as a poetic mood. [63] It is certainly un-Hellenic that Hölderlin allows Hyperion with his alleged Greek nature to sink into contemplative inactivity. ”

“ To prevent this, Prowers would stick at nothing. Hollister was only a subordinate, but his death would serve excellently to point a sinister moral. If more important persons did not take warning, they, too, might vanish from the paths of the living. ”

“ The drummer of the police must attend constantly at the adjutant’s tent, to be ready at all times to communicate the necessary signals; nor must he be absent himself on any account during the twenty four hours, without leaving another drummer to supply his place till his return, nor then, without leave from the adjutant. ”

“ Hollingsworth frowned; not in passion, but, like fate, inexorably.
"I will not argue the point," said he. "What I desire to know of you is,—and you can tell me in one word,—whether I am to look for your coöperation in this great scheme of good? Take it up with me! Be my brother in it! It offers you (what you have told me, over and over again, that you most need) a purpose in life, worthy of the extremest self-devotion,—worthy of martyrdom, should God so order it! In this view, I present it to you. You can greatly benefit mankind. ”

“ Hollingsworth, I think you'll be the lucky man to-night, such luck as it is."
We floated past the stump. Silas Foster plied his rake manfully, poking it as far as he could into the water, and immersing the whole length of his arm besides. Hollingsworth at first sat motionless, with the hooked pole elevated in the air. But, by and by, with a nervous and jerky movement, he began to plunge it into the blackness that upbore us, setting his teeth, and making precisely such thrusts, methought, as if he were stabbing at a deadly enemy. ”

“ How beautiful it is, and, so far as we can yet see, how practicable! The ages have waited for us, and here we are, the very first that have essayed to carry on our mortal existence in love and mutual help! Hollingsworth, I would be loath to take the ruin of this enterprise upon my conscience."
"Then let it rest wholly upon mine!" he answered, knitting his black brows. "I see through the system. It is full of defects,—irremediable and damning ones!—from first to last, there is nothing else! I grasp it in my hand, and find no substance whatever. There is not human nature in it." ”

“ Here, then, in this holy hope, is longing, that marvelous flower of the soul, expanded into its perfect and noblest fruit. If, in judging of the three, man looks to the end to which he is to attain—if, in thought, he places himself at this point of view, then assuredly will love appear the highest and the best; for hope ceases when fulfillment comes in, and sight enters into the place of faith, but love abideth forever. ”

“ The arms and accoutrements of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, should be uniform throughout. The officers who exercise their functions on horseback, are to be armed with swords, the platoon officers with swords and espontoons, the non-commissioned officers with swords, firelocks, and bayonets, and soldiers with firelocks and bayonets. ”

“ I've never seen a man like you before. I don't think Hodell ever saw a man like you before, sir. With such a really terrific mind and yet so big and strong and well-built and handsome and clean-looking and blackish. You're wonderful, Captain Garlock, sir. ”

“ Miss Hollister
HOPEFIELD MANOR
"Oh!" I exclaimed, bowing. "Any further introduction is unnecessary, Miss Hollister."
"The name is familiar? I recall that General Glendenning mentioned that you were related to the Ames family of Hartford, and your mother was a Farquhar of Charlottesville, Virginia. If you bear your father's name, I dare say it was he whom I met ten years ago in Paris. There is no reason, therefore, why we should not be the best of friends." ”

“ It still impresses me as almost a matter of regret, that I did not die then, when I had tolerably made up my mind to it; for Hollingsworth would have gone with me to the hither verge of life, and have sent his friendly and hopeful accents far over on the other side, while I should be treading the unknown path. Now, were I to send for him, he would hardly come to my bed-side, nor should I depart the easier for his presence.
"You are not going to die, this time," said he, gravely smiling. "You know nothing about sickness, and think your case a great deal more desperate than it is." ”

“ Methought there could not be two such men alive as Hollingsworth. There never was any blaze of a fireside that warmed and cheered me, in the down-sinkings and shiverings of my spirit, so effectually as did the light out of those eyes, which lay so deep and dark under his shaggy brows.
Happy the man that has such a friend beside him when he comes to die! and unless a friend like Hollingsworth be at hand,—as most probably there will not,—he had better make up his mind to die alone. How many men, I wonder, does one meet with in a lifetime, whom he would choose for his deathbed companions! ”

“ Gee!"
"Mankind, in Hollingsworth's opinion," thought I, "is but another yoke of oxen, as stubborn, stupid, and sluggish as our old Brown and Bright. He vituperates us aloud, and curses us in his heart, and will begin to prick us with the goad-stick, by and by. ”

“ He is chiefly remembered owing to his fierce quarrel with Philip, count of Hohenlohe (1550–1606) , called Hollock by the English, in August 1586 at Gertruydenberg (see J. L. Motley, The United Netherlands, vol. ii.) . In 1589 he sailed with his brother Sir John and Sir Francis Drake on the expedition to Spain and Portugal, and from 1590 to 1599 he was governor of Ostend. ”

“ I should not have thought him at all the sort of person to be turned back by a puff of contrary wind, or a few snowflakes drifting into his face."
"Do you know Hollingsworth personally?" I inquired.
"No; only as an auditor—auditress, I mean—of some of his lectures," said she. "What a voice he has! and what a man he is! Yet not so much an intellectual man, I should say, as a great heart ”

“ Zarathustra, said he, wilt thou even sing consolation to the sea?
Ah, thou amiable fool, Zarathustra, thou too-blindly confiding one! But thus hast thou ever been: ever hast thou approached confidently all that is terrible.
Every monster wouldst thou caress. A whiff of warm breath, a little soft tuft on its paw—: and immediately wert thou ready to love and lure it.
LOVE is the danger of the lonesomest one, love to anything, IF IT ONLY LIVE! ”

“ What do I care for the man I shall be then? It’s slaving one’s life away for a stranger!” He took her hands abruptly. “You’ll go to Cannes, I suppose, or Monte Carlo? I heard Hollingsworth say to-day that he meant to take his yacht over to the Mediterranean—”
She released herself. “If you think that—”
“I don’t. I almost wish I did. It would be easier, I mean.” He broke off incoherently. “I believe your Aunt Virginia does, though. She somehow connotes Hollingsworth and the Mediterranean.” He caught her hands again. “Alexa—if we could manage a little hole somewhere out of town?” ”

“ It is in Heraclitus that one finds the germ of his primary view of the universe—a view, to wit, that sees it, not as moral phenomenon, but as mere aesthetic representation. The God that Nietzsche imagined, in the end, was not far from the God that such an artist as Joseph Conrad imagines—a supreme craftsman, ever experimenting, ever coming closer to an ideal balancing of lines and forces, and yet always failing to work out the final harmony. ”