"…poetically doth man dwell…"

pp. 588-594

in: William Richardson, Heidegger, The Hague, Nijhoff, 1963

Abstract

The preceding essay was delivered as a lecture in August, and but a few months later, in October of the same year (1951), came another, entitled "… Poetically doth man dwell…" where the author dialogues once more with his old friend, Hölderlin. It is so perfectly consequent with "Working, Dwelling, Thinking" that the two should be taken together as a single whole, for there only the first two of the three processes were thematized. "Thinking" received only incidental treatment at the end, more by way of promise then of realization. It is in the present essay that the promise finds some measure of fulfillment, for what Hölderlin calls "poetizing" is, despite profound difference, one with what Heidegger calls thought. With the necessary reserves, then, we might translate the title: "… Thought-fully doth man dwell…" We take the present essay as a necessary complement of the former and polarize the discussion thus: A. Dwelling, B. Poetizing.