Vowing at an early age to be a poet or nothing at all, Hermann Hesse rebelled against formal education, focusing on a rigorous program of independent study that included literature, philosophy, art, and history.
One result of these efforts was a series of novels that became counterculture bibles that remain widely influential today.
Another was a body of evocative spiritual poetry.
Published for the first time in English, these vivid, probing short works reflect deeply on the challenges of .