After a childhood marked by loss and grief, Hö lderlin studied theology in the illustrious company of Hegel and Schelling, before concentrating on poetry and writing his most famous work, Hyperion. But, afflicted by the pressures of life and a doomed love affair, he gradually went mad, and spent the final 36 years of his life in a solitary tower in Tü bingen, cared for by a kindly carpenter. The younger poet Wilhelm Waiblinger, one of the few people to gain Hö lderlin's confidence, visited him often. This is his beautifully written memoir of the stricken poet, a unique insight into his personality, sensitively translated by Will Stone.