Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Chapter
XXXIX: Poets explained
Zarathustra critiques poets for their superficiality, vanity, and tendency to lie, acknowledging that he too is a poet.
What happens
Zarathustra critiques poets for their superficiality, vanity, and tendency to lie, acknowledging that he too is a poet. He expresses weariness with their shallow depths and predicts a time when poets will turn penitently inward.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Herd Morality
Zarathustra condemns poets for their reliance on popular wisdom and the 'eternally feminine,' aligning with herd-like superficiality.
The Body and the Earth
Zarathustra emphasizes knowing the body over the spirit, dismissing the 'imperishable' as mere simile.
Will to Power and Creation
Poets' creative acts are portrayed as vain and shallow, yet the chapter hints at a future self-overcoming through penitence.
Characters to notice
- Zarathustra
Zarathustra speaks to a disciple, critiquing poets and reflecting on his own nature as a poet.
- The Superman
Mentioned as a 'gaudy puppet' set on clouds by poets, alongside Gods.
Key passages
“Since I have known the body better—said Zarathustra to one of his disciples—the spirit hath only been to me symbolically spirit; and all the ‘imperishable’—that is also but a simile.”
Zarathustra tells a disciple that after understanding the body, he now sees the spirit and eternal things as mere symbols.
Highlights the theme of prioritizing bodily reality over abstract spirit.
“Verily, ever are we drawn aloft—that is, to the realm of the clouds: on these do we set our gaudy puppets, and then call them Gods and Supermen:—”
Poets are always reaching upward to the clouds, where they place their colorful creations and label them Gods or Supermen.
Critique of poets' tendency to fabricate lofty ideals.
“Yea, changed have I seen the poets, and their glance turned towards themselves. Penitents of the spirit have I seen appearing; they grew out of the poets.”
I have witnessed poets transform, looking inward and becoming penitents of the spirit, emerging from their former selves.
Foreshadows a potential redemption or self-overcoming for poets.