In Germany at the end of the 18th century and the 19th century, There was a literary giant in German literature and the most important poet of the time. He was the founder of German Romanticism and the pioneer of Romanticism throughout Europe, he was known as the "King of Romanticism", and his works often used blue flowers as a symbol of Romanticism, so he was called "Blue Flower Poet", he was Novalis. Today, we will appreciate his ten aphorisms, experience the romantic color behind the words, and imply profound philosophical ideas, and you will be touched by reading them.
Born into an aristocratic family, Novalis was the eldest son of a family, gifted and intelligent from an early age, received a complete legal education, studied philosophy with the German philosopher and writer Fichte, and thus became acquainted with von Schiller, one of the representatives of German Enlightenment literature. At the age of 22, he fell in love with a 13-year-old aristocratic girl, and they were in love, regardless of any obstacles, and privately decided to live forever. But the unfortunate death of his lover, Novalis is very sad, hoping that he will die and go to the other side of his lover. In this brutal struggle of ideas, he wrote a landmark work in german history, "Ode to the Night".
The era in which he lived was an era of mature German culture and thought, when Hegel, Beethoven, Schlegel and other famous artists gathered together, and the spiritual life of society was extremely full. In the social environment, emphasizing the perceptual self hidden by reason, paying attention to the aesthetic experience of the individual "self", and integrating life into nature, Novalis's poetic system slowly formed and followed this path of creation. It can be said that Novalis is the "son of the times", he has a sensitivity beyond ordinary people, but also has an extraordinary ability to perceive life, so that the "self" in his poems is more abundantly embodied, so that the work has tension and thought.
Chinese readers' impressions of Novalis are extremely unfamiliar, and in the 1930s, Mr. Feng Zhi had a certain study of his poetry, and Chinese people had the opportunity to understand the style of his poetry. It is said that Novalis began to write poetry at the age of 13, studied his hobbies, mining, philosophy and other fields, and all of them performed well, so he was called the second "generalist" in German history after Goethe. There are more than 130 extant poems of his, with different styles, mainly nature, love, youth and sadness, and the early poetry style is mainly frank and bright, but it has not formed its own style. Due to the death of his lover, his thinking and poetry creation concept have changed, and his poetry has also shifted from external expression to heart, at this time, the poetry can best reflect Novalis's heart, life thinking and perception of the world.
Romantic characteristics are the characteristics of Novalis's poetry, in addition to the "free form" and "self" expressed in romanticism, his poems win lyricism, philosophy, narrative, etc. in one furnace, integrating calmness, sensibility and philosophy, intuition and indirectness, so that his poetry blooms with brilliance and also makes his thoughts radiate. His individual poems have a sense of social responsibility and a spirit of salvation, reflecting the poet's world view and salvation ideals. There is also a part of the poem that shows the poet's love and faith, which is based on the poet's cognition of society and thought, as well as his own emotional life, which is deeply influenced by his family influence and life experience.
Novalis was not only a poet, he was also a philosopher, and his philosophical ideas originated in Fichte, reinforcing "self-consciousness", a philosophical view that directly reflected his poetic views. In the poet, it is embodied that he willfully, volatilizes all illusions, combines this fantasy with nature and history, and freely indulges in self-feelings.
His aesthetic view was directly influenced by Schiller and Schlegel, who exalted the spirit of poetry and opposed poetic prose culture, while the poetic theory emphasized "the expression of feelings on the whole inner world", thus believing that the emotions and hearts of people are different, so they cannot fully explain and describe the inner nature of poetry. It is worth mentioning that the fairy tale method is very good at using Novalis, with a strong personal color, and the good use of fairy tales is also greatly related to its philosophical tendencies, which is also a means for poets to build an idealized world.
For the record, Novalis was born on May 2, 1772, marking the 250th anniversary of the German Romantic poet. His life spanned only 28 years, leaving a strong mark on the history of world literature, and his romantic feelings and philosophical views were directly reflected in his writings. Today, we will enjoy Novalis's ten aphorisms together, experience its literary charm and philosophical view, and feel the style of his romantic writing.