“The Half of Life” by Friedrich Holderlin

Thesis Statement

Friedrich Holderlin has used romanticism in the poem “The half of life” with great success.

Introduction

The author Friedrich Holderlin is a major German lyric poet. In this verse, Friedrich Holderlin created two contrasting pictures of the beauty of spring and the bleakness of winter. From the name of the poem “The Half of Life”, I visualize that the author understood life by its bright and dark sides, respectively visualized by the depiction of nature which was one of the key features of Romanticism (Annemarie, pp: 60).

Discussion and Analysis

First with regard to the subject of this poem, Holderlin illustrated the beautiful scene of spring in the first stanza, while in the second stanza, he concentrated on the sorrow brought by blank winter. Holderlin appeared to contrast these two distinct seasons of the year, what he implied between the lyrics is the issue of time. The spring can be compared to youth, and the winter is likened to age. To Holderlin, it is apparent that being young is more joyful than growing old given his description of the two nature scenes. Personally, I actually like his ways of metaphor and depiction. His poem can effectively bring readers into two opposite worlds as well as arouse reader's differing emotions. Generally, this verse conceived a hopeful and peaceful image. I believe, the beauty of spring signifies times of harmony and delight. When we find hope in life, everything will be “brimming”. Like “swans” that signifies holiness and serenity, we are capable to see apparently in an optimistic way as we are spiritually sustained and contented (Annemarie, pp: 70).

The first three lines are prose rather than poetry. I can understand the choice of the phrase 'plunge', since the 'trunken/tunkt' is now paralleled by 'drunk/plunge', but the movement is too violent. I see it as a slow, stately dropping of the head - that, at any rate has been factual of the swans I have seen making this movement. A shame that 'dunk' is more 'toast and marmelade being dropped in coffee', or makes you conceives of 'slam dunk' in basketball. There would appear to be not satisfactory replacement for 'dip'. Swans that 'duck' their heads, sounds nearly like a contradiction in terms. Holderlin liked this repetition is clear from his revised earlier version 'und trunken von/Kussen taucht ihr/das Haupt ins hei-/lignüchterne kuhle Gewasser' (Theodor, pp: 130).

Stanza two presents an explanation 'for', which is not in the original. To 'come by' is a bit too much 'get hold of' and too little 'find'. To 'clatter' is not commonly a transitive verb, whereas this is possible, e.g. 'she clattered the dishes onto the table'. The original says it happened in the wind and uses the verb intransitively.

On the other hand, the second verse of the poem depicts the dark side of life. As we encounter obstacles in life, we are inclined to be confused and lost. “Where, ah where shall I find,” the beginning of the verse made a transition of the ...