In Knechtsgestalt-

Abstract

These considerations are fragments of an ongoing investigation on the ultimate sense of Holderlin's poetizing. One of the segments of this study deals with the surprising fact that many of the main works by the German poet are not concluded. In particular, this paper focuses on the example of one of these compositions: the incomplete final verses of the hymn ((Wie wenn am Feiertage ...)), while asking the question: what are the reasons that didn't allow Holderlin to finish this first hymn of his maturity? The answer is given at three levels which are sometimes superimposed. At first glance, this poem's failure would seem to be caused by the interpolation of the subjective in front of the objective evocation of the divine, which constitutes the essence of the hymnic (Szondi). A second fundamental reason would be the fact that the divine, in and of itself, is for Holderlin, that which is not representable (Heidegger, Marzoa). Finally, however, the paper presents the cause that is probably definitive: the hymn doesn't fail merely because, in essence, there wasn't an adequate representation of the poetized (the ((paradox))), but rather because Holderlin doesn't yet recognize with sufficient force subconsciously he is headed in that direction that which alone is conclusive: Christ (Balthasar, Garrigues, Przywara).