The busy marketplace
In "Bread and Wine," Hölderlin describes a busy marketplace, full of various characters who are going about their daily lives. For example, there are the men who "go home to rest, filled with the day's pleasures."
Distant strangers
Hölderlin imagines what people might be doing in "distant gardens," imagining that "perhaps lovers play there, or a lonely man thinks about distant friends, and about his own youth." It is common in Hölderlin's poetry for the speaker to imagine what strangers might be feeling and thinking, and what lives they might be living.
God
The idea of God is present in many of Hölderlin's poems, in which he combines his religious faith with his free-thinking and poetic idealism. Although he does explore conceptions of the Christian idea of God in his works, Hölderlin seems drawn to ancient Greek conceptions of multiple gods, who each have their own rich symbolism and meanings.
Empedocles
Hölderlin alludes to this Greek philosopher in his works, including in, "The Death of Empedocles," in which the thinker sacrifices himself as a rebellion against a world that is no longer connected to nature.
The speaker
Hölderlin has different kinds of speakers in his poetry, but all seem to be related by a sense of philosophical insight and idealism. For example, in "The Middle of Life," the speaker ponders on the duality of nature and art.
