# XXXIX: Poets explained — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

> Chapter companion for Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-ii-xxxix-poets
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters