'Patmos'

‘Patmos’, a hymnic poem written in 1801-3 by F. Hölderlin. In irregular unrhymed verse the poet conjures up images of Christianity and Hellas to form a complex and numinous pattern. The exaltation, power, and sublimity of the language express awe, apprehension, and hope in a poem which is not reducible to any prose formula. Complicated by the existence of more than one version, it has become the subject for interpretative controversy.