This new critical biography of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) is the first to appear for more than fifty years. In this time his status as one of the greatest European poets has become increasingly apparent - yet he is commonly considered a 'difficult' poet. A prime aim of this book is to make Hölderlin more accessible to the English-speaking reader. This comprehensive discussion of Hölderlin's work includes close readings of many individual poems, with English translations of all quotations. The author, who is also concerned to locate Hölderlin constantly in his times, recounts in a chronological framework the main line of the poet's life, his dealings with his important contemporaries, his love for Susette Gontard, and the long years of loneliness and frustration. Hölderlin is an archetypal figure, exciting fear and pity, a poet whose religion was founded on the conviction that his gods were absent, and whose modernity lies in his experience of absence.

This book, the first new critical biography of Holderlin to appear in over 50 years, makes a notoriously "difficult" major poet accessible to English-speaking readers, providing a comprehensive discussion of his life and work, and placing him firmly in the context of his times.

'his book is immensely welcome ... Dr Constantine's book is admirably suited to fulfilling his aim of making more people think H worth reading and accessible.' Robin Harrison, King's College, London, Modern Language Review Vol 85