heaps upon the devoted heads of the Germans is not his last
word on the subject. Nor did he ever lose sight of his lofty ideal of
liberty for his degraded fatherland or cease to hope for its
realization. In this strain he concludes the "Hymne an die Freiheit"
(1790) with a splendid outburst of patriotic enthusiasm:

Dann am suessen, heisserrung'nen Ziele,
Wenn der Ernte grosser Tag beginnt,
Wenn veroedet die Tyrannenstuehle,
Die Tyrannenknechte Moder sind,
Wenn im Heldenbunde meiner Brueder
Deutsches Blut und deutsche Liebe glueht,
Dann, O Himmelstochter! sing ich wieder,
Singe sterbend dir das letzte Lied.[50]

What a remarkable change is noticeable in the tone which the poet
assumes toward his country in the lines "Gesang des Deutschen," written
in 1799, probably after the completion of his "Hyperion":

O heilig Herz der Voelker, O Vaterland!
Allduldend gleich der schweigenden Muttererd'
Und allverkannt, wenn schon aus deiner
Tiefe die Fremden ihr Bestes haben.

Du Land des hohen, ernsteren Genius!
Du Land der Liebe! bin ich der Deine schon,
Oft zuernt' ich weinend, dass du immer
Bloede die eigene Seele leugnest.[51]

How much the reproach has been softened, and with what tender regard he
strives to mollify his former bitterness! To this change in his
feelings, his sojourn in strange places and the attendant
discouragements and disappointments seem to have contributed not a
little, for in the poem "Rueckkehr in die Heimat," written in 1800, the
contempt of "Hyperion" has been replaced by compassion. He sees himself
and his country linked together in the sacred companionship of
suffering, consequently it can no longer be the object of his scorn.

Wie lange ist's, O wie lange! des Kindes Ruh'
Ist hin, und hin ist Jugend, und Lieb' und Glueck,
Doch du, mein Vaterland! du heilig
Duldendes! siehe, du bist geblieben.[52]

But the fact remains, nevertheless, that Hoelderlin from his early youth
felt himself a stranger in his own land and among his own people. Some
of the causes of this circumstance have already been discussed. The fact
itself is important because it establishes the connection between his
Weltschmerz and his most noteworthy characteristic as a poet, namely,
his Hellenism. No other German poet has allowed himself to be so
completely dominated by the Greek idea as did Hoelderlin. And in his case
it may properly be call