Abstract

We have examined Heidegger’s concern with poetry in relation to the question of Being. ‘Being’ means ‘presencing’ for Heidegger, which itself, however, remains permanently veiled in its full historical course. Each way of presencing occurs in language, or at least against the background of language. Traditionally, being comes to expression in philosophical discourse as metaphysics. Heidegger thought, in contrast, that the presencing of entities occurs more essentially in and through poetry. As such, poetry is the place where hints and suggestions concerning ontological transitions are concentrated and thus are most present. Poetry becomes, as such, the place of particularity where hints concerning the concealed whole are to be found.