unpractical trend of his mind.  The flights of fancy of which Hoelderlin is capable are well illustrated by another passage in “Hyperion.”  Referring to Hyperion’s conversation with Alabanda, he says:  “Ich war hingerissen von unendlichen Hoffnungen, Goetterkraefte trugen wie ein Woelkchen mich fort."[26] These facts have a direct bearing upon Hoelderlin’s Weltschmerz, inasmuch as it was just this unequal and unsuccessful struggle of the idealist with the stern realities of life that brought about the catastrophe which wrought his ruin.

And just as his ideals are vague and abstract, so too are the expressions of his Weltschmerz.  It needs no concrete idea to arouse his enthusiasm to its highest pitch.  Thus Hyperion exclaims:  “Der Gott in uns, dem die Unendlichkeit zur Bahn sich oeffnet, soll stehen und harren, bis der Wurm ihm aus dem Wege geht?  Nein! nein! man fraegt nicht, ob ihr wollt! ihr wollt ja nie—­ihr Knechte und Barbaren!  Euch will man auch nicht bessern, denn es ist umsonst!  Man will nur dafuer sorgen, dass ihr dem Siegeslauf der Menschheit aus dem Wege geht!"[27] It is in the form of lofty generalities such as these, and seldom with reference to practical details, that Hoelderlin’s longings find expression.

Entirely consistent with this idealism is the nature of his love, ardent, but etherial, “uebersinnlich.”  This is reflected also in his lyrics, which are statuesque and beautiful, but lacking in passion and sensuous charm.  Hoelderlin’s earliest love-affair, that with Louise Nast, is important for his Weltschmerz only in its bearing upon the development of his general character.  This influence was a twofold one:  in the first place his sweetheart was herself inclined to a sort of visionary mysticism, and therefore had an unwholesome influence upon the youth, who had already been carried too far in that direction.  She too was a lover of solitude and wrote her letters to him in the stillness of the night, when all others were asleep.  There can be no doubt that she had at least some share in determining his mental activity, especially his reading.  In one of his earliest letters to her he writes:  “Weil Du den Don Carlos liest, will ich ihn auch lesen."[28] It was during this time too that that he became so ardent an admirer of Schubart and Ossian.  “Da leg’ ich meinen Ossian weg und komme zu Dir,” he writes in 1788 to his friend Nast.  “Ich habe meine Seele geweidet an den Helden des Barden, habe mit ihm getrauert, wann er trauert ueber sterbende Maedchen."[29] There is not a sensuous note in all Hoelderlin’s poems or letters to Louise.  Typical are the lines which he addresses to her on his departure from Maulbronn: 

    Lass sie drohen, die Stuerme, die Leiden,
    Lass trennen—­der Trennung Jahre
    Sie trennen uns nicht! 
    Sie trennen uns nicht! 
    Denn mein bist du!  Und ueber das Grab hinaus
    Soll sie dauren, die unzertrennbare Liebe.

    O! wenn’s einst da ist
    Das grosse selige Jenseits,
    Wo die Krone dem leidenden Pilger,
    Die Palme dem Sieger blinkt,
    Dann Freundin—­lohnet auch Freundschaft—­
    Auch Freundschaft der Ewige.[30]