Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856) was a German poet, essayist, journalist and literary critic, and one of the central figures of the late Romantic movement in German letters. [1] His lyric verse, combining folk-song simplicity with irony and political edge, made him the most frequently set German poet in the history of art song, while his journalism and polemical prose earned him censorship at home and a long exile in Paris. [2]
Early life and education
Heine was born on 13 December 1797 in Düsseldorf, then part of the Rhineland, into a Jewish merchant family. [1] His childhood coincided with the French occupation of the Rhineland, and the relative civil equality granted to Jews under Napoleonic rule left a lasting mark on his political outlook.
An early attempt at a commercial career in Hamburg, supported by his wealthy banker uncle Salomon Heine, ended in failure. He turned instead to law, studying at the University of Bonn, the University of Göttingen and the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, where he also attended lectures by Hegel. He took his doctorate in law at Göttingen in 1825, converting to Lutheranism the same year in the hope of opening professional doors that remained closed to Jews in Prussia. [2]
Poetry and early prose
Heine's reputation was established by his verse. Die Harzreise (1826), a travel narrative mixing landscape description with social satire, opened the successful series of Reisebilder (Travel Pictures). [3] In 1827 he gathered his lyric poetry into Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs), which contained such enduring pieces as "Die Lorelei" and the cycle later used by Robert Schumann for Dichterliebe.
The poems' deceptive plainness, built on the rhythms of German folk song but undercut by sudden irony, proved extraordinarily attractive to composers. Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Liszt and many others set his texts, producing a body of art song without parallel for any other German poet. [1]
Exile in Paris
Increasingly at odds with Prussian censorship and drawn to French liberal politics after the July Revolution, Heine moved to Paris in 1831 and spent the rest of his life there. [2] He worked as a correspondent and essayist, interpreting France to German readers and Germany to the French in works such as On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany (1834).
In 1835 the German Confederation banned the writings of the Young Germany group, Heine's included, cutting him off from much of his readership. He remained politically engaged in exile, associating for a time with Karl Marx, and wrote the satirical verse epics Germany. A Winter's Tale and Atta Troll. [3]
Later life
From 1848 a progressive paralysis confined Heine to what he called his Matratzengruft, or mattress-grave. Bedridden and in constant pain, he continued to dictate some of his finest late work, including the collection Romanzero (1851). He died in Paris on 17 February 1856 and was buried in the Montmartre Cemetery. [1]
Legacy
Heine's position in German culture has been contested ever since. Celebrated as a lyric master, he was also attacked as an unpatriotic ironist, and under the Nazi regime his books were banned and burned while "Die Lorelei" was reprinted with its author listed as unknown. [2]
Universities, prizes and institutes now bear his name, and his combination of lyricism with sharp political prose remains a model for the writer as public critic. [3]
