Hymns to the Night

Author(s): Novalis, George Macdonald

Genre(s): Poetry

Narrators: Pete Williams, Pittsburgh, PA

Number of Chapters: 1

Length: 25 minutes

Language: English

"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. (Summary by Pete Williams)

"Hymns to the Night" is also available to Librivox listeners in the original German.