in all seriousness be talked to death or endangered by such talk. And this quite apart from the fact that in the end there can be a discourse concerning poetry, and that such a thing is not only appropriate, but indeed demanded by poetry. Perhaps we can talk poetically concerning poetry, which certainly does not mean we should talk in verses and rhymes. Thus a discourse that takes its lead from a poetic work need not necessarily be an idle talking ‘around’ or ‘about’ poems.
There is something else, however, that is more problematic and suspect: that philosophy should now launch an assault upon a poetic work. The weapon and defense of philosophy is, after all—or at least ought to be—the icy boldness of the concept. In place of the danger of talking something to death there now arises the danger of thinking it to death, to say nothing of the fact that it appears as though thinking could shortly be abolished altogether. There arises the danger of our dissecting the poetic work into concepts, of our examining a poem merely for the poet’s philosophical views or for doctrines on the basis of which we could construct Hölderlin’s philosophical system, and from this ‘explain’ the poetry—this being what one calls ‘explaining.’ We wish to spare ourselves such a manner of proceeding, not because we are of the opinion that philosophy has to be kept well away from Hölderlin’s poetry, but because this widespread and customary way of proceeding has nothing to do with philosophy.
Yet if ever a poet demanded a thoughtful coming to terms with his poetry, it is Hölderlin, and this is not at all because as a poet he happened to be ‘also a philosopher,’ indeed one that we may without hesitation place alongside Schelling and Hegel. Rather, this is so because Hölderlin is one of our greatest—that is, one of our most futural—thinkers, because he is our greatest poet. A poetic turning toward his poetry is possible only as a thoughtful encounter with the revelation of beyng that is achieved in this poetry.
That said, the semblance and even the danger of talking and thinking the poetry to death will constantly accompany our work, all the more so, the less we know concerning poetizing, thinking, and saying, and the less we have experienced with regard to how and why these three powers belong most intimately to our original, historical Dasein. Our manner of proceeding in general thus stands entirely under the unique law of Hölderlin’s work.
c) Concerning Our Particular Approach. The Poetic Dasein of the Poet
We are beginning immediately with a poem and are thus neglecting to mention: Hölderlin was born on March 20, 1770, in Lauffen on the Neckar as the son of . . . and so forth. He published something like a