The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Hermann Hesse

A foreword by Andrew Harvey reintroduces us to a figure about whom some may have believed everything had already been said. Thoughtful commentary throughout from translator Ludwig Max Fischer helps readers understand the poems within the context of Hesse's life.. The Seasons of the Soul offers valuable guidance in poetic form for those longing for a more meaningful life, seeking a sense of homecoming in nature, in each stage of life, in a renewed relationship with the divine. One result of these efforts was a series of novels that became counterculture bibles that remain widely influential today. Another was a body of evocative spiritual poetry. Extensive quotations from his prose introduce each theme addressed in the book: love, imagination, nature, the divine, and the passage of time. Vowing a

"disappointing" according to James Deirmendjian. I was excited to purchase and receive this collection, especially after seeing good reviews on Amazon. Hesse has been perhaps my favorite author since reading Siddartha as a teenager, and I keep returning to Steppenwolf, Demian, along with Journey to the East, long after having read each of these for the first time. While there is no doubt, to my mind, that Hesse was one of the greatest writers of his time, the translation you will find here is severely lacking. What struck me as immediately telling about its quality was the sense that I was reading cheap new-age banter, comprised by the foreward and other exegetical material. Thi. Judy Croome said Easy & accessible poetry. This short book is well structured, with an informative and detailed introduction to each section of poems. Each of these excellent introductions give an intimate sense of Hesse the poet, his passions and his torments.The poems that follow were, like most poetry volumes, made up of verses that resonated deeply with me, and others that were interesting to read. Each reader would, I'm sure, find their own favourite poem.Some of the poems were, unexpectedly, less lyrical than I expected from a mystical poet. Perhaps some essence was lost in translation (always a difficult task) or perhaps this is Hesse's Germanic voice - rather sombr. Sue Jones said Disappointing. Very thin book with a lot of white space on every page of poetry = not worth the expensive price tag. The poems are disappointing. Perhaps simply not Hesse's best work (and why they were previously unpublished in English), or lost in the translation. A good deal of narrative on Hesse prior to each chapter, which may be the book's greatest asset, if you want to learn a bit more about Hermann Hesse. In the brief time it took to read, however, and with so little inspiration, this book won't even find a place on my bookshelf.