Who the heck is?
Novalis (1772-1801) - PSEUDONYM FOR FRIEDRICH LEOPOLD, BARON VON HARDENBERG
German poet who influenced later Romantic thought, sometimes called 'the prophet of Romanticism'. Novalis took his pseudonym from "de Novali", a name his family had formerly used. The central image of Novalis' visions, a blue flower, became later a symbol of longing among Romantics. The 'blue flower' in unattainable and is to remain unattainable. Romantics expressed a longing for home and a longing for what is far off; Schiller called the romantics 'exiles pining for a homeland'.
"The imagination places the world of the future either far above us, or far below, or in a relation of metempsychosis to ourselves. We dream of traveling through the universe - but is not the universe within ourselves? The depths of our spirit are unknown to us - the mysterious way leads inwards. Eternity with its worlds - the past and future - is in ourselves or nowhere. The external world is the world of shadows - it throws its shadow into the realm of light. At present this realm certainly seems to us so dark inside, lonely. shapeless. But how entirely different it will seem to us - when this gloom is past, and the body of shadows has moved away. We will experience greater enjoyment than ever, for our spirit has been deprived." (from 'Miscellaneous Observations', 1798)
German poet who influenced later Romantic thought, sometimes called 'the prophet of Romanticism'. Novalis took his pseudonym from "de Novali", a name his family had formerly used. The central image of Novalis' visions, a blue flower, became later a symbol of longing among Romantics. The 'blue flower' in unattainable and is to remain unattainable. Romantics expressed a longing for home and a longing for what is far off; Schiller called the romantics 'exiles pining for a homeland'.
"The imagination places the world of the future either far above us, or far below, or in a relation of metempsychosis to ourselves. We dream of traveling through the universe - but is not the universe within ourselves? The depths of our spirit are unknown to us - the mysterious way leads inwards. Eternity with its worlds - the past and future - is in ourselves or nowhere. The external world is the world of shadows - it throws its shadow into the realm of light. At present this realm certainly seems to us so dark inside, lonely. shapeless. But how entirely different it will seem to us - when this gloom is past, and the body of shadows has moved away. We will experience greater enjoyment than ever, for our spirit has been deprived." (from 'Miscellaneous Observations', 1798)
posted by novalis at 4:22 AM
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