Hymns to the Night & Spiritual Songs

Hymns to the Night & Spiritual Songs, by German author, poet, mystic and mineralogist Novalis (or Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg), were originally published in English in 1842 & 1873 respectively, as translated by Scots author, poet and minister George MacDonald.Hymns to the Night (or Hymnen an die Nacht) and Spiritual Songs (Geistliche Lieder), were both originally published in German in 1800 towards the end of Novalis' life. Hymns to the the Night, are six prose poems sprinkled with verse. Within which Novalis celebrates night, or death, being an entry point to a higher life within the presence of God. Anticipating the mystical union with his love Sophie von Kühn, and the cosmos simultaneously. Spiritual Songs are fifteen verse poems, that contemplate a deep spirituality, and romantic mysticism of the self, whilst it looks upon the pain of incarnation and mundane existence as it falters towards a higher life.