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I am searching for the original German version of a poem by Friedrich Hölderlin.

The poem is reffered to by Werner Herzog in the book Herzog on Herzog by Paul Cronin on page 252. Here Herzog says:

When you look at a film like Bells From the Deep you are not watching a film that in any way strives to report facts about Russia, like an explicitly ethnographic documentary might do. This sounds like someone who reads a poem by Hölderlin where he describes a storm in the alps claiming, “Ah, here we have a weather report back in 1802".

Basing my search on the line Herzog is reciting (“Ah, here we have a weather report back in 1802".) I was so far unable to find the piece of writing he is referring to.

Is someone here aware of the work by Hölderlin Herzog is talking about?

Beta
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JoSch
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  • I found http://www.schnitt.de/231,6532,01.html which does not necessarily mean that there is such poem about a storm in 1802 by Hölderlin. – user1583209 Dec 24 '16 at 12:09
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    It is a bit improbable that Hölderlin was able to write a weather report on the alps in 1802. He was in Bordeaux most of that year (and walking there from Stuttgart) and later not in a shape to really write. The poem could be "Kanton Schweiz", describing a day in the mountains, including a storm - Like many others. – tofro Dec 24 '16 at 12:16
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    Adding to my earlier comment. In the linked article, basically it says that Herzog's documentaries are not like a weather report but rather like a poem, which say Hölderlin [or any other poet describing nature] could have written. Comment in brackets by me. – user1583209 Dec 24 '16 at 13:16
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    @user1583209 I think you are right, I must have misread Herzog's words. He is referring to the manner in which a reality is described through the example of a poem by Höderlin about a storm in general, rather than referring to a specific poem. Thank you for clearing this up for me. – JoSch Dec 24 '16 at 14:48

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I think Herzog is referring to this text:

An meinen lieben Hiller - Friedrich Hölderlin, Kanton Schweiz

http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/friedrich-h-262/55

There is a German text where your quoted passage is paraphrased:

Wer, so Herzog, ein Hölderlin-Gedicht über ein Unwetter in den Alpen wie einen "Wetterbericht von 1802" lese, habe dazu keinen Zugang.

http://www.dokumentarfilminitiative.de/index.php/aktuell/symposien/117-spracheundsprechendokumentationulrichkriest

Philipp
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