Heinrich Heine Biography and List of Works

German poet of Jewish origin, not a prophet in his own country. Heine lived at a time of major social and political changes: the French Revolution (1789-99) and the Napoleonic wars influenced deeply his poetry and thinking. He died in Paris, where he had lived from 1831 as one of the central figures of the literary scene. He was more highly regarded in France, England and America than in his native country.

"When the heroes go off the stage,
the clowns come on."

Harry Heine was born in Düsseldorf. His father was a tradesman, who during the French occupation found new opportunities opened for the Jews. When his father's business failed, Heine was sent to Hamburg, where his rich uncle tried to encourage him into commercial career, without success. Heine studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin and Göttingen, but was more interested in literature than law, although he eventually took a degree in 1825. Heine's teacher in Berlin was G.W.F. Hegel; they both admired Napoleon. In order to make possible a civil service career, closed to Jews at that time, Heine converted to Protestantism. He also changed his first name to the more Germanic Heinrich. However, he never practiced or held a position in government service.

"You're so lovely as a flower,
So pure and fair to see;
I look at you, and sadness
Comes stealing over me.
(from 'Du Bist Wie eine Blume' written for Therese Heine)

As a poet Heine made his debut with GEDICHTE in 1821. It included one of his most famous poems, 'Zwei Grenadiere', which reflected Heine's Napoleon cult. Heine's one-sided infatuation with his cousins Amalie and Therese inspired him to write some of his loveliest lyrics. BUCH DER LIEDER (1927) was Heine's first comprehensive collection of verse. These early works show influence of folk poetry, but the ironic touch separates the poet from the Romantic main stream. Heine's summer trips produced the basis for his four volumes of REISEBILDER (1826-31), a combination of autobiography, social critic and literary debate.

Du bist wie eine Blume
so hold und schön und rein;
ich schau' dich an, und Wehmut
schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.

Mir ist, als ob ich die Hände
aufs Haupt dir legen sollt',
betend, dass Grott dich erhalte
so rein und schön und hold.

Heine visited England in 1827, but the formality of behaviour and bourgeois materialism horrified the poet and he returned disappointed to Germany. In the third volume of Reisebilder (Die Bäder von Lucca), Heine satirized the poet August von Platen, who had attacked on his Jewish origins. This act discredited Heine and in 1831 he went to Paris as a journalist, to write newspaper articles about the development of democracy and capitalism in France. In 1834 he fell in love with Crecence Eugénie Mirat, an illiterate salesgirl, whom he married seven years later. Mathilde was spendthrift but during Heine's eight-year-long illness she nursed him faithfully and tenderly. Heine wrote for Mathilde some poems but they do not belong among his best.

In Paris Heine reported on French cultural and political affairs, wrote travel books and works on German literature and philosophy, besides publishing poetry. At that time, Paris was the cradle of new ideas: Victor Hugo had published Notre Dame de Paris, Balzac's and George Sand's first novels had appeared, Delacroix and Delaroche were the centres of art salons. Heine's criticism of Germany's present and recent past were unacceptable for the German censors. At the end of 1835 the Federal German Diet tried to enforce a nationwide ban on all his works. Soon Heine found himself surrounded by police spies, and his voluntary exile became an imposed one.

Defying cencors in Germany, Heine published, after a visit to his home country a long verse satire, DEUTCHLAND: EIN WINTERMÄRCHEN (1844), an attack on reactionary circles. Heine continued to receive a yearly stipend from his uncle, and he also accepted a pension from the French government. After 1844 he suffered financial reversals and a physical deterioration. From 1848 until his death he lay paralysed, but wrote one of his finest collection of verse, ROMANZERO (1851). During his last years Heine was interested in combining elements of Christianity and pagan sensuality. His last romantic affair was with Camilla Selden, an Austrian woman, whom he called 'Mouche'. His poems for Camilla are among his best love lyrics. Heine died in Paris on February 17, 1856. His works arise still controversy in Germany long after his death, although his verse influenced the young Rikle, Wilhelm Busch, and Frank Wedekind. Proposals to erect his statue caused riots. Because of Heine's Jewish background, the Nazis insisted that the poet's songs should be marked 'author unknown' in poetry collections.

Heine's poetry ranged from simple romantic lyrics to wickedly effective political satire. He had a love-hate relationship with German Romanticism but he produced some of its purest examples in poetry. Heine's work inspired such composers as Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Schumann, who set many of his poems to music.

For further reading: Heinrich Heine and Giacomo Leopardi by Delia Fabbroni-Giannotti Nisbet (2000); Heinrich Heine's Contested Identities, ed. by Jost Hermand and Robert C. Holub (1999); The Poet As Provocateur by George F. Peters (1999); By the Rivers of Babylon by Roger F. Cook (1998); The Feminine in Heine's Life and Oeuvre by Diana Lynn Justis (1997); The Poet Dying by Ernst Pawel (1995); Heinrich Heine: Poetry & Politics by Nigel Reeves (1994); Mehr Als Ein Liberaler Uber Heinrich Heine by Jost Hermand (1991); Exiles and Ironists: Essays on the Kinship of Heine and Laforgue by Ursula Franklin (1989); Heinrich Heine: Poetry in Context by Michael Perraudin (1989); Der Grosse Heide Nr. 2: Heinrich Heine and the Levels of His Goethe Reception by George F. Peters (1989); Heinrich Heine by Laura Hofrichter (1987); Coal-Smoke and Englishmen by Siegbert Saloman Prawer (1984); Valiant Heart: A Biography of Heinrich Heine by Philip Kossoff (1983); Heinrich Heine by Barker Fairley (1977); The Artist in Revolt by Max Brod 81957); The Poetry and Prose of Heinrich Heine, ed. by Frederic Ewen (1948); Heine: A Life Between Love and Hate by Ludwig Marcuse (1933)

GEDICHTE, (1822)