One Hour Past Midnight

A new translation of Hesse's 1899 "One Hour Past Midnight" poem (also translated "One Hour behind Midnight") is an early, lengthy poem where a Poet, obviously a moniker of Hesse, is the protagonist. This edition also contains an epilogue by the translator, a philosophical glossary of concepts used by Hesse and a chronology of his life and work. Hesse won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947. He also received the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt in 1946 and the 1955 Peace Prize of the German Booksellers.

The poet-wanderer of this poem finds a fairy-pool which reflects the first dreams of his you, and he stares into it, striving to understand the transience of his self. This poeticized Narcissus myth is a beautiful early work of one of the greatest German poets of his day.

This collection contains the following Poems:

One Hour Past Midnight

Album page for Elise.

The fever muse.

The king's feast.