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Secular or Eclectic : Romantic

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18th Century

Germany
(Europe)

Novalis

Timeline (1772 - 1801)

Poems by Novalis
Books - Links

Novalis, Novalis poetry, Secular or Eclectic, Secular or Eclectic poetry, Romantic poetry, poetry, Christian poetry

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Novalis was the pen name of Friedrich Leopold, Baron von Hardenberg. He took the name from "de Novali" which was an old family name.

As his title suggests, the future Baron von Hardenberg was born into a noble German family in lower Saxony. He was sent to a religious school as a boy, but he balked at the strict atmosphere. He later lived with his uncle who introduced him to the French literature and rational philosophy.

In the 1790s, the ideas of the French Revolution spread among idealistic intellectual circles throughout Europe, greatly inspiring the young Novalis. He was also deeply moved by reading the mystical philosophical writings of Goethe.

When Novalis was a young man, he fell in love with a teenaged girl named, appropriately enough, Sophie (the goddess of wisdom, the feminine embodiment of the divine in Western gnostic traditions). His experience of love for the young woman was so deep that it became a transformative, one could say "mystical" experience for the young Novalis. But, sadly, Sophie died two years later.

This loss inspired his Hymns to the Night collection of prose and poetry and aphorisms in praise of the sacred encounters with nature, night, sleep, and the magnetic connection between the masculine and the feminine.

He died at the age of 29 of tuberculosis.

Novalis was one of the early German Romantics, and he is sometimes referred to as "the prophet of the Romantics."

Poems by Novalis

	Over I journey
	The youth thou art who ages long hast stood
	Uplifted is the stone
	When Geometric Diagrams...

Recommended Books

	Hymns to the Night, by Novalis Amazon.com
	Hymns to the Night: Spiritual Songs, by Novalis / Translated by George MacDonald Amazon.com
	News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness, Edited by Robert Bly Amazon.com
	Novalis: Philosophical Writings, Translated by Margaret Mahony Stoljar Amazon.com
	The Novices of Sais, by Novalis / Translated by Ralph Manheim Amazon.com

Related Links:

	Novalis http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/novalis.htm A good, brief biography.
	Novalis Online http://www.eskimo.com/~telical/novalis.html Some translated writings by Novalis, an article on Novalis by Thomas Carlisle, and links.
	The Novalis Society http://www.schloss-oberwiederstedt.de/ German-language site with extensive information on Novalis.
	Novalis: Hymns to the Night http://logopoeia.com/novalis/ The full text of Hymns to the Night in English.

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Novalis

Daily Poem Email

Support the Poetry Chaikhana

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Support
the Poetry Chaikhana