‘Der gefesselte Strom’

‘gefesselte Strom, Der’, a poem written probably in 1801 by F. Hölderlin in the form of an Alcaic ode. The image of the frozen river and its return to movement in spring may be seen as a symbol of the poet, and also of the hide-bound world which will some day quicken. It is an earlier version of ‘Der Abschied’ and was first printed in 1826.