M. B. Benn
Hölderlin and Pindar.
S'-Gravenhage: Mouton & Co., 1962. Anglica Germanica, British Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures, IV. 162 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6" x 9", is bound in dark blue cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book shows light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Front dust jacket flap with blurb is affixed to the front pastedown. Strand price stickers are attached to front endpaper. Lower outside corner of front flyleaf exhibits small faint water marking. Interior is otherwise clean and bright.
"Hölderlin's attention was early directed to Pindar, the poet who, as he expressed it, "combined the plasticity of the epic and the passion of tragedy". And as his own poetry was reaching maturity, he devoted an earnest and devoted an earnest and prolonged study to this Greek poet who has acquired for him such a unique significance. He made literal translations of a number of the Olympian and Pythian Odes, and, while avoiding mere imitation, succeeded in reviving and renewing the true Pindaric tradition.
The present work offers a systematic study of Hölderlin's poetry from this point of view. It provides a chronological survey of Hölderlin's  studies of Pindar and a detailed analysis of the translations. It shows the crucial importance of Hölderlin's relation to Pindar, traces the manifestation of the Pindaric spirit in every aspect of his later work, and seeks to penetrate the secret of his unparalleled success among the Pindaric poets of modern times".