Beyond Good And Evil

As Nietzsche declares in The Birth of Tragedy (1872), “What a shame I did not dare to utter as a poet what I had to say at that time; perhaps I might have been able to do that!” : The “Epode” of Beyond Good and Evil (1886) concludes the book as it should not have been written as it was but as it should have been chanted. The reader might be surprised towards this unexpected lyricism that concluded the book, thus seen as an Orphic culmination of Nietzsche’s enterprise to drive forward the above project of writing an unprecedented “Philosophy of the future”. In composing his Nachgesang, referring to the Greek Epode, the Aftersong, Nietzsche seizes the writing as his own in not following the classical two-line structure and rhythm of the epode as he is more concerned to write an ultimate romantic ode . In this simple narrative, the narrator waits for some friends who, when they arrive, don’t recognize him. He contemplates the nature of their friendship in a self-conscious doubt, realizing that he has moved to a condition more suitable to the world whereas they have not and find themselves in danger. In sum, the poem reiterates a main theme of the whole book: the tragedy of the solitude of the free spirit and the …show more content…
(…)” recalls the end of the Preface: “we have still, the whole need of the spirit and the whole tension of its bow!” . This mirrors the idea of transformation of the self in strength throughout the continuity of the text. From the need to the very ability of one to “drew that bow, surely he was the mightiest of men” , Nietzsche emphasizes strength acquired in the very hunt for a differently levelled philosophy of self-overcoming. As such, begging his friend to leave for their own sake and spare them suffering, emphasizes Nietzsche’s sympathy that occurs throughout Beyond Good and Evil, particularly in ¶290: “alas, why do you want to have as hard a time of it as I had?”