Hymns to the Night

"Hymns to the Night" is the last published work of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772-1801), the German philosopher and early Romantic poet whose pen name was simply ¿Novalis¿. The work alternates poetry and prose, exploring a personal mythology of darkness and light, but it is also a free-associative chronicle of a young man rationalizing the untimely death of his fiancé. This version (1897) was translated by influential fantasy author and novelist George MacDonald, who cited it as a great ¿ and early ¿ inspiration. "Hymns to the Night" is also available to Librivox listeners in the original German. (Summary by Pete Williams)