Keats and Holderlin
1956; Duke University Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1768963
ISSN1945-8517
Autores Tópico(s)Linguistics and language evolution
ResumoHE parallel between Keats and 1Holderlin has often been suggested-so often that it tends to be taken for granted. Mr. Hamburger, in his introduction to translations of some of Holderlin's poems, refers to it as a matter of course,l and it has found its way even into such semipopularizing works as Gilbert Highet's T'he Classical Tradition.2 The fact is, however, that the only published work on record entirely devoted to this comparison was written by an obscure German Oberlehrer in 1896,7 when the major part of H6lderlin's poetry was still entirely unknown, even in Germany.4 As the understanding and interpretation of Holderlin has developed, his stature has steadily grown, to the point where he appears as one of the central figures in modern literature. Evaluation of Keats has shown a similar---though, of course, less dramatic-upward trend. A comparison may thus find a basis in the conviction of their common greatness, but it must necessarily remain confined to an enumeration of thematic analogies. The two contemporary poets were, of course, unaware of each other's existence and have no specific literary or philosophical sources in common; certainly, their respective Hellenisms are all too individual to serve as a starting point for comparison. And the language differences makes any comparison of texture a highly hazardous undertaking, which would have to be preceded by extensive comparative theories concerning English and German poetical techniques. The most immediate value of a Keats.-tolderlin parallel is a clarification of Keats's major themes, which, as divergent opinions in recent Keats criticism well show, are far from being unambiguously defined.
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