Poetically Man Dwells - Free Readiness to Respond

Heidegger and Hölderlin

Continuing in the spirit of "unity in plurality," here comes yet another perspective on contemplative poetry, building off our previous post on "Cold Mountain" from Tang dynasty China. In order to offer further reflections on poetry and the part it plays on the contemplative path, we leap several centuries forward and a few continents over to the work of twentieth century German philosopher Martin Heidegger.

All the way from Tang dynasty Chinese poetry to twentieth century Germany philosophy? Yes, you read that right. There may be more in common between them than first meets the eye.



While born in Germany, drawn to the Nazi Party (which has raised several concerns among those who study his work) and enamored with German identity, Heidegger engaged directly with "Eastern" thought in the later part of his career after setting politics aside and retreating into a hut in the forest, where his work unfolded onto a path previously uncharted by him.

In his forest hut, Heidegger's thoughts underwent transformations from their previous forms. Shifting into the realm of language and poetry, his later work is known for borrowing the Chinese notions of heaven, earth, mortals, and divinities (天地人神), adapting them into his concept of "the Fourfold" (das Geviert). Heidegger even attempted to translate several verses from the "Tao Te Ching" (Daodejing, 道德經) into German.

With that said, our point in this post is not to address these parallels in detail, but to offer a point of entry into Heidegger's later work. We begin with "Poetically Man Dwells," a tribute by Heidegger to German poet Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin from the century prior, a figure affiliated with both German Romanticism and German Idealism. We draw from the 1971 translation by Albert Hofstadter. Both Heidegger and Hölderlin invite us to contemplate: "Poetically Man Dwells."

Poetically Man Dwells

As the title to an essay, "Poetically Man Dwells" is introduced by Heidegger through its source of inspiration.



Poetically man dwells... Dwells in what? And why poetically?

In Lovely Blueness

That Heidegger chooses a poet and his poetry as inspiration is perhaps unusual given his earlier emphasis on "Being" in an arguably abstract sense. Being, for Heidegger, was about the being for whom Being is a question. This went over many heads at his time and continues to raise eyebrows today. Although known primarily for his dense, earlier ontological works, including his foundational treatise on Dasein ("being-there") entitled Being and Time (Sein und Zeit), Heidegger's later work took a turn toward the poetic.

As a brief side note, Heidegger's work has occasionally been criticized as being obscurantist, or intentionally unclear. Such obfuscation is evident in reading much of his early writings in particular. Some wager that Heidegger purposely left his work ambiguous so that readers may continue to question its meaning. Others say he was simply a poor writer. Yet if we consider the potentially purposeful point to the ambiguity, there may be a lesson for us.

In contemplating the meaning, intended or interpreted, of such texts, it does us an immense favor to remain open to the possibilities, examining them from multiple angles and diverse perspectives, rather than fixing on a particular view or perspective. We are invited, perhaps, to keep the horizon open, in lovely blueness.



With that bit of background in mind, we examine the opening of "Poetically Man Dwells."

Free Readiness to Respond

In the very first paragraph, reference is made to the "free readiness to respond," which does not receive much explanation. Yet a few inferences may be drawn.

We find in Heidegger's invocation to not lose the "free readiness to respond" a deeply contemplative turn. We are asked to follow the poem, not in a blindly obedient way, but as a hiker follows a trail, responding freely and readily to its turns. Poetry, or any contemplative undertaking, requires our willingness to walk the path charted by the words, rather than let said words grow stagnant on the page. We enter the poem as participants on the contemplative path it paints.

In exercising the "free readiness to respond," we engage actively with the poem. Instead of being passive recipients of the words, we move with them. In the present case, our gaze is drawn upward, to the blooming steeple.

Blooms the Steeple

The steeple functions as an intriguing image. "In lovely blueness blooms the steeple with metal roof," we are told by Hölderlin's poem. That Heidegger quotes this line directly in the opening to the section "Poetically Man Dwells" tells of its importance to his interpretation.



It blooms, in lovely blueness, sprouting skyward. The poem paints an image of a church standing against the sky, its steeple rising toward heaven.



As a religious image, the steeple connects humanity to the divine, earth to heaven. The uppermost point of a church, it appears to symbolize the point of reception whereby the divine is transmitted, transmuted, transacted, translated into the humane. It is the bridge between worlds.



We could even say the steeple is a contemplative symbol. Yet such an image of the steeple blooming into lovely blueness is suddenly shattered by the next paragraph.

Dwelling is Harassed

In the following passage, which is as far as we will pursue the text for the time being, Heidegger makes a sudden turn. In assessing the reception of poetry, he remarks:



While of course speaking in particular terms to a specific set of conditions, in this case the housing situation in twentieth century Germany, the "housing shortage" Heidegger references hearkens back in some ways to the nomadic trajectory of the mountaineer who remains intentionally without residence, while echoing forward to conditions in much of the industrialized (and non-industrialized) world where housing is no guarantee.

"Dwelling" in Chinese poetry, too, is "to inhabit" (住) as one would a house or other residence. Yet the poet, the cold mountain recluse in ascent, stays not in one place. Rather, he freely moves between points without ever lingering. This is the tension to which Heidegger points with the seemingly contradictory phrase, "poetically man dwells." How can the poet, whose nature is to move freely amidst words, dwell in one place?

On one hand, the poet indeed dwells, although not in the stagnant sense. He dwells through contemplation - inhabiting an inward facing reflection while moving about within it, then shifting freely between associations that arise from it, and translating its import into an outward expression, which he conveys through the poem.

On the other hand, the poet does not dwell, as such above-mentioned dwelling is movement itself. Whether in his inner reflections, their outer manifestations on paper, or through his corporeal trajectory in the intersubjective life-world, the poet's contemplative life is characterized by transience.

For those who do not choose this lifestyle and are nonetheless without housing for whatever reasons, other concerns predominate. How can one maintain a free readiness to respond to the housing shortage we face today? We can't be sure our present housing shortage is exactly what Heidegger had in mind, as he was more likely instead preoccupied with the politics of space, the politics of "being" and the politics of "place," in Germany. Yet the message rings true, albeit perhaps differently interpreted, now as much as then.



Also taking us by surprise, Heidegger then reflects that "dwelling is harassed." How so? Given the context conveyed by the rest of the passage, he appears to be alluding to the competitive labor market, which privileges the productive over the poetic. Dwelling, in both the poetic sense of contemplative reflection as well as the economic sense of inhabiting a residence and paying the associated mortgage or rent, poses a tension.

Perhaps the poet is unhappily doomed, or in some cases happily destined, to homelessness - both on account of society's poor view of poets and artists, who thereby become poor (i.e., the "starving artist") on account of their unemployable skills, and on account of the necessity of willingly freeing oneself from such imposing structures in order to continue one's contemplative craft, uncorrupted by competitive ends. How does one navigate this process?

How can a place be held for such a pursuit? While the Buddha and others could wander freely, many today cannot without facing severe consequences.

There remains much more to unpack in these passages and others. In fact, we've only just scratched the surface, covering but the first page of the section "Poetically Man Dwells" from late Heidegger's larger work Poetry, Language, Thought, but we hope these preliminary reflections suffice for the time being.

As always, we invite your reflections in the comments section. We're eager to hear from you, in the spirit of "free readiness to respond."