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Project Gutenberg's The poems of Heine; Complete, by Heinrich Heine This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license Title: The poems of Heine; Complete Author: Heinrich Heine Translator: Edgar Alfred Bowring Release Date: August 23, 2016 [EBook #52882] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF HEINE; COMPLETE *** Produced by Chuck Greif, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) BOHN’S STANDARD LIBRARY ————— THE POEMS OF HEINE {i} {ii} GEORGE BELL AND SONS LONDON: PORTUGAL ST., LINCOLN’S INN. CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER AND CO. THE POEMS OF HEINE COMPLETE TRANSLATED INTO THE ORIGINAL METRES WITH A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE BY EDGAR ALFRED BOWRING, C.B. LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1908 [Reprinted from Stereotype plates.] CONTENTS. PAGE PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION viii PREFACE ix MEMOIR OF HEINRICH HEINE xi EARLY POEMS. SONGS OF LOVE Love’s Salutation 1 Love’s Lament 1 Yearning 2 The White Flower 3 Presentiment 4 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS Germany, 1815 6 Dream, 1816 9 The Consecration 11 The Moor’s Serenade 12 Dream and Life 13 The Lesson 14 To Francis V. Z—— 14 A Prologue to the Hartz-Journey 15 Defend Not 15 A Parody 16 Walking Flowers at Berlin 16 Evening Songs 16 Sonnets To Augustus William von Schlegel 17 To the Same 17 {iii} To Councillor George S——, of Göttingen 19 To J. B. Rousseau 19 The Night Watch on the Drachenfels. To Fritz von B—— 20 In Fritz Steinmann’s Album 20 To Her 21 Goethe’s Monument at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1821 21 Dresden Poetry 21 Beardless Art 22 BOOK OF SONGS PREFACE 23 YOUTHFUL SORROWS (1817-1821) Visions 24 Songs 39 Romances 43 The Mournful One 43 The Mountain Echo 43 The Two Brothers 44 Poor Peter 44 The Prisoner’s Song 45 The Grenadiers 46 The Message 46 Taking the Bride Home 46 Don Ramiro 47 Belshazzar 52 The Minnesingers 53 Looking from the Window 54 The Wounded Knight 54 The Sea Voyage 54 The Song of Repentance 55 To a Singer (on her singing an old romance) 56 The Song of the Ducats 57 Dialogue on Paderborn Heath 57 Life’s Salutations (from an album) 59 Quite True 59 Sonnets To A. W. von Schlegel 59 To my Mother, B. Heine, née von Geldern 60 To H. S. 61 Fresco Sonnets to Christian S—— 61 LYRICAL INTERLUDE (1822-23) Prologue 65 Lyrics 66 The God’s Twilight 89 Ratcliff 91 Donna Clara 94 Alamansor 96 The Pilgrimage to Kevlaar 100 The Dream (from Salon) 102 NEW POEMS Seraphina 102 Angelica 107 Diana 112 Hortense 113 Clarissa 115 Yolante and Mary 119 Emma 121 Frederica 122 Catherine 124 {vi} {vii} Songs of Creation 129 Abroad 131 Tragedy 132 The Tannhäuser, A Legend 133 Romances A Woman 139 Celebration of Spring 139 Childe Harold 140 The Exorcism 140 Extract from a letter 141 The Evil Star 142 Anno 1829 142 Anno 1839 143 At Dawn 144 Sir Olave 144 The Water Nymphs 146 Bertrand de Born 147 Spring 147 Ali Bey 148 Psyche 149 The Unknown One 149 The Change 150 Fortune 150 Lamentation of an old German Youth 150 Away! 151 Madam Mette (from the Danish) 151 The Meeting 153 King Harold Harfagar 154 The Lower World 155 Miscellanies Muledom 158 The Symbol of Madness 158 Pride 160 Away! 161 Winter 161 The Old Chimney-piece 162 Longing 162 Helena 163 The Wise Stars 163 The Angels 163 Poems for the Times Sound Doctrine 164 Adam the First 164 Warning 165 To a Quondam Follower of Goethe (1832) 165 The Secret 166 On the Watchman’s Arrival in Paris 166 The Drum Major 167 Degeneracy 169 Henry 169 Life’s Journey 170 The New Jewish Hospital at Hamburg 170 George Herwegh 171 The Tendency 172 The Child 173 The Primrose 173 The Changeling 174 The Emperor of China 174 Church-Counsellor Prometheus 175 To the Watchman 176 Consoling thoughts 176 The World Turned Upside Down 177 {viii} Enlightenment 178 Wait Awhile! 179 Night Thoughts 179 NEW SPRING Prologue 180 Lyrics 180 PICTURES OF TRAVEL THE RETURN HOME (1823-24) 195 THE HARTZ-JOURNEY (1821) 229 THE BALTIC (1825-26) Part I. (1825) Evening Twilight 237 Sunset 237 The Night on the Strand 239 Poseidon 240 Homage 242 Declaration 242 In the Cabin at Night 243 The Storm 245 Calm at Sea 246 The Ocean-Spectre 247 Purification 249 Peace 249 Part II. (1826) Sea Salutation 251 Thunderstorm 253 The Shiprecked One 253 Sunset 254 The Song of the Oceanides 256 The Gods of Greece 258 Questions 260 The Phœnix 261 Echo 261 Sea-Sickness 262 In Harbour 263 Epilogue 265 Monologue (from book Le Grand) 1826 266 ATTA TROLL, a Summer Night’s Dream 267 GERMANY, a Winter Tale 326 ROMANCERO Book I. Histories Rhampsenitus 380 The White Elephant 382 Knave of Bergen 387 The Valkyres 388 Hastings’ Battle-field 389 Charles I. 392 Marie Antoinette 393 The Silesian Weavers 395 Pomare 395 The Apollo God 398 Hymn to King Louis 401 Two Knights 402 Our Marine (A Nautical Tale) 404 The Golden Calf 405 King David 405 King Richard 406 {v} The Asra 406 The Nuns 407 Palgravine Jutta 408 The Moorish King 409 Geoffrey Rudèl and Melisanda of Tripoli 411 The Poet Ferdusi 412 Voyage by Night 417 The Prelude 418 Vitzliputzli 420 Book II. Lamentations Wood Solitude 434 Spanish Lyrics 438 The Ex-living One 445 The Ex-Watchman 446 Mythology 449 In Matilda’s Album 449 To the Young 449 The Unbeliever 450 Whither Now? 450 An Old Song 451 Ready Money 452 The Old Rose 452 Auto-da-Fe 452 Lazarus The Way of the World 453 Retrospect 453 Resurrection 454 The Dying One 455 Rascality 455 Retrospect 456 Imperfection 456 Pious Warning 457 The Cooled-down One 457 Solomon 458 Lost Wishes 458 The Anniversary 459 Meeting Again 460 Mrs. Care 460 To the Angels 461 In October, 1849 461 Evil Dreams 463 It Goes Out 464 The Will 464 Enfant Perdu 465 Book III. Hebrew Melodies Princess Sabbath 466 Jehuda Ben Halevy 470 Disputation 492 LATEST POEMS (1853-54) Miscellaneous Peace Yearning 504 In May 504 Body and Soul 505 Red Slippers 506 Babylonian Sorrows 507 The Slave Ship 508 Affrontenburg 512 Appendix to “Lazarus” 514 The Dragon Fly 520 Ascension 521 The Affianced Ones 524 The Philanthropist 525 {x} {xi} I The Whims of the Amorous 527 Mimi 529 Good Advice 530 Reminiscences of Hammonia 531 The Robbers 533 The Young Cats’ Club for Poetry-Music 533 Hans Lack-Land 535 Recollections from Krähwinkel’s Days of Terror 537 The Audience (an old Fable) 538 Kobes I. 539 Epilogue 544 Addenda The Song of Songs 545 The Suttler’s Song (from the Thirty Years’ War) 546 POSTHUMOUS POEMS Horse and Ass 548 The Ass-Election 550 Bertha 552 In the Cathedral 552 The Dragon-fly 553 Old Scents 554 Miserere 555 To Matilda 556 For the “Mouche” 556 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. A NEW edition of this work having been called for, owing to the first edition having been for some time out of print, I have taken advantage of the opportunity to add translations of a remarkable collection of Poems by Heine, published for the first time since the appearance of my work in 1859. They consist of as many as twelve hundred lines, described partly as “Early Poems,” which will be found at the beginning of the volume, and partly as “Posthumous Poems,” which are placed at the end. The metres of the original have been again retained throughout. Various errors discovered by me in the first edition have now been corrected; and it only remains for me to express my thanks for the kind manner in which the critical and the general public, both in England and abroad, have received the work, and for the indulgence extended by them to its many imperfections. E. A. B. PREFACE. T may perhaps be thought that I exhibit something of the brazen-facedness of a hardened offender in venturing once more (but, I hope, for the last time) to present myself to the public in the guise of a translator,—and, what is more, a translator of a great poet. The favourable reception, however, that my previous translations of the Poems of Schiller and Goethe have met with at the hands of the public, may possibly be admitted as some excuse for this new attempt to make that public acquainted with the works of a third great German minstrel. Comparatively little known and little appreciated in England, the name of Heine is in Germany familiar as a household word; and while, on the one hand, many of his charming minor poems have become dear to the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow-countrymen, and are sung alike in the palace and the cottage, in the country and the town, on the other his sterner works have done much to influence the political and religious tendencies of the modern German school. Having prefixed to this Volume a brief memoir of Heine, accompanied by a few observations on his various works and their distinguishing characteristics, I will here confine myself to stating that I have adhered with the utmost strictness to the principles laid down by me for my guidance in the case of the previous translations attempted by me,—those principles being (1) As close and literal an adherence to the original as is consistent with good English and with poetry, and (2) the preservation throughout the work of the original metres, of which Heine presents an almost unprecedented variety. I have, on the occasion of my former publications, fully explained my reasons for adopting this course, and will not weary the reader with repeating them. I have sufficient evidence before me of the approval of the public in this respect to induce me to frame my translation of Heine’s Poems on the same model. In addition to thus preserving both the language and the metre of the original, I have in one other respect endeavoured to reproduce my author precisely as I found him, and that is in the important particular of completeness. There are doubtless many poems written by Heine that one could wish had never been written, and that one would willingly refrain from translating. But the omission of these would hide from the reader some of Heine’s chief peculiarities, and would tend to give him an incomplete if not incorrect notion of what the poet was. A translator no more assumes the responsibility of his author’s words than a faithful Editor does, and he goes beyond his province if he omits whatever does not happen to agree with his own notions. In claiming for the present work (extending over more than 20,000 verses) the abstract merits of literalness, completeness, and {xii} {ix} A rigid adherence to the metrical peculiarities of the original, it is very far from my intention to claim any credit for the manner in which I have executed that difficult task, or to pretend that I have been successful in it. That is a question for the reader alone to decide. The credit of conscientiousness and close application in the matter is all that I would venture to assert for myself. All beyond is left exclusively to the candid, and, I would fain hope, generous, appreciation of those whom I now voluntarily constitute my judges. HEINRICH HEINE. LTHOUGH little more than three years have elapsed since Heinrich Heine was first numbered amongst the dead, his name has long been enrolled in the lists of fame. Even during his lifetime he had the good fortune,—and, in a poet, the most unusual good fortune,—of being generally accepted as a Representative Man, and of passing as the National Bard of Young Germany. Although perhaps scarcely entitled to rank with Goethe and Schiller in the very highest order of poets, the name of Heine will assuredly always occupy a prominent place amongst the minstrels not only of Germany, but of the world. It is only recently that his works have been for the first time published in an absolutely complete form, the poetry extending over more than two of the six volumes of which they consist. Universally known and read in his native land, and highly popular in France, which was for so many years his adopted country, the works of Heine are to the generality of Englishmen (as stated in the Preface) almost entirely unknown. As the present volume is, as far as I am aware, the only attempt that has been made to bring the far-famed poems of Heine in their integrity before the English reader,[1] it seems desirable to preface it by a brief sketch of his life, so that in seeing what Heine is as a poet, we may be able to form some idea as to who he was as a man. One who has been compared in turns to Aristophanes, Rabelais, Burns, Cervantes, Sterne, Jean Paul, Voltaire, Swift, Byron, and Béranger (and to all these has he been likened), can be of no common stamp. The discrepancies both as to facts and dates that occur between the various biographies of Heine are, however, so numerous, that it has been no easy task to avoid error in the following brief sketch of his life. Heinrich (or Henry) Heine was born in the Bolkerstrasse, at Dusseldorf, on the 12th of December, 1799; but, singularly enough, the exact date of his birth was, until recently, unknown to his biographers, who, on the authority of a saying of his own, assigned it to the 1st of January, 1800, which he boasted made him “the first man of the century.” In reply, however, to a specific inquiry addressed to him by a friend on this subject a few years before his death, he stated that he was really born on the day first mentioned, and that the date of 1800 usually given by his biographers was the result of an error voluntarily committed by his family in his favour at the time of the Prussian invasion, in order to exempt him from the service of the king of Prussia. By birth he was a Jew, both of his parents having been of that persuasion. He was the eldest of four children, and his two brothers are (or were recently) still alive, the one being a physician in Russia, and the other an officer in the Austrian service. The famous Solomon Heine, the banker of Hamburg, whose wealth was only equalled by his philanthropy, was his uncle. His father, however, was far from being in opulent circumstances. When quite a child, he took delight in reading Don Quixote, and used to cry with anger at seeing how ill the heroism of that valiant knight was requited. He says somewhere, speaking of his boyish days, “apple- tarts” were then my passion. Now it is love, truth, freedom, and “crab-soup.” He received his earliest education at the Franciscan convent in his native town, and while there had the misfortune to be the innocent cause of the death by drowning of a schoolfellow, an incident recorded in one of the poems in his “Romancero.” He mentions the great effect produced upon him by the sorrowful face of a large wooden Christ which was constantly before his eyes in the Convent. Even at that early age the germs of what has been called “his fantastic sensibility, the food for infinite irony,” seem to have been developing themselves. A visit of the Emperor Napoleon to Dusseldorf when he was a boy affected him in a singular manner, and had probably much to do with the formation of those imperialist tendencies which are often to be noticed in his character and writings. He was next placed in the Lyceum of Dusseldorf, and in 1816 was sent to Hamburg to study commerce, being intended for mercantile pursuits. In 1819 he was removed to the University at Bonn which had been founded in the previous year, and there he had the advantage of studying under Augustus Schlegel. He seems, however, to have remained there only six months, and to have then gone to the University of Göttingen, where, as he tells us, he was rusticated soon after matriculation. He next took up his abode at Berlin, where he applied himself to the study of philosophy, under the direction of the great Hegel, whose influence, combined with that of the works of Spinosa, undoubtedly had much to do with the formation of Heine’s mind, and also determined his future career. From this time we hear no more of his turning merchant; and it is from the date of his residence at Berlin that we may date the rise of that spirit of universal indifference and reckless daring that so strongly characterizes the writings of Heine. Amongst his associates at this period may be mentioned, in addition to Hegel, Chamisso, Varnhagen von Ense and his well-known wife Rachel, Bopp the philologist, and Grabbe, the eccentricities of whose works were only equalled by the eccentricities of his life. Heine’s first volume of poetry, entitled “Gedichte” or Poems, was published in 1822, the poems being those which, under the name of “Youthful Sorrows,” now form the opening of his “Book of Songs.” Notwithstanding the extraordinary success afterwards obtained by this latter work, his first publication was very coldly received. Some of the poems in it were written as far back as 1817,[2] and originally appeared in the Hamburg periodical “Der Wachter” or “Watchman.” Offended at this result, he left Berlin and returned to Göttingen in 1823, where he took to studying law, and received the degree of Doctor in 1825. He was baptized into the Lutheran Church in the same year, at Heiligenstadt, near that place. He afterwards said jocularly that he took this course to prevent M. de Rothschild treating him too fa-millionairely. It is to be feared, however, from the tone of all his works, that his nominal religious opinions sat very lightly upon him through life. He writes as follows on this subject in 1852: “My ancestors belonged to the Jewish religion, but I was never proud of this descent; neither did I ever set store upon my quality of Lutheran, although I belong to the evangelical confession quite as much as the greatest devotees amongst my Berlin enemies, who always reproach me with a want of religion. I rather felt humiliated at passing for a purely human creature,—I whom the philosophy of Hegel led to suppose that I was a god. How proud I then was of my divinity! What an idea I had of my grandeur! Alas! that charming time has long passed away, and I cannot think of it without sadness, now that I am lying stretched on my back, whilst my disease is making terrible progress.” Previous to this date, and whilst living at Berlin, Heine published (in 1823) his only two plays, “Almanzor” and “Ratcliff,” which were equally unsuccessful on the stage and in print, and which are certainly the least worthy of all his works. Between these two plays {xv} {xvi} {xiii} {xiv} he inserted a collection of poetry entitled “Lyrical Interlude,” which attracted little attention at the time. In the year 1827, however, he republished this collection at Hamburg, in conjunction with his “Youthful Sorrows,” giving to the whole the title of the “Book of Songs.” In proportion to the indifference with which his poems had been received on their first appearance, was the enthusiasm which they now excited. They were read with avidity in every direction, especially in the various universities, where their influence upon the minds of the students was very great. In the year 1852, this work had reached the tenth edition. Heine’s next great work, his “Reisebilder,” or Pictures of Travel, written partly in poetry and partly in prose, was published at Hamburg at various intervals from 1826 to 1831, and, as its name implies, is descriptive of his travels in different countries, especially in England and Italy. The poetical portion of the “Reisebilder,” the whole of which is translated in this volume, is divided into three parts,—“The Return Home,” the “Hartz-Journey,” and “The Baltic,” written between 1823 and 1826. This work again met with an almost unprecedented success, and from the date of its publication and that of the “Book of Songs,” may be reckoned the commencement of a new era in German literature. These remarkable poems exhibit the whole nature of Heine, free from all disguise. The striking originality, the exuberance of fancy, and, above all, the singular beauty and feeling of the versification that characterize nearly the whole of them, stand out in as yet unheard-of contrast to the intense and bitter irony that pervades them,—an irony that spared nobody, that spared nothing, not even the most sacred subjects being exempt from the poet’s mocking sarcasm. This characteristic of Heine only increased as years passed on. In the later years of his life, which were one long-continued agony, his bodily sufferings offer some excuse, it may be, for what would otherwise have been inexcusable in the writings of a great poet. There was doubtless much affectation in the want of all religious and political faith that is so signally apparent in the works of Heine, and yet they betray a real bitterness of feeling that cannot be mistaken. At every page may be traced the malicious pleasure felt by him in exciting the sympathy and admiration of the reader to the highest pitch, and then with a few words,—with the last line or the last verse of a long poem, it may be,—rudely insulting them, and dashing them to the ground. No better parody of this favourite amusement of Heine can be given than by citing two well-known verses of Dr. Johnson: “Hermit old in mossy cell, “Wearing out life’s evening gray, “Strike thy pensive breast, and tell “Where is bliss, and which the way?” Thus I spake, and frequent sigh’d, Scarce repress’d the falling tear, When the hoary sage replied: “Come, my lad, and drink some beer.” The exuberance of Heine’s heart, as has been well said, was only equalled by the dryness of his spirit; a real enthusiasm was blended with an unquenchable love of satire; “his exquisite dilettanteism made him adore the gods and goddesses of Greece at the expense even of Christianity.” In short, qualities scarcely ever found in combination, were combined in him; in one weak, suffering body two distinct and opposite natures, each equally mighty, were united. Perhaps the best name ever applied to him is that of the “Julian of poetry.” The French Revolution in 1830 determined Heine’s future life. He was then living at Berlin again, after having resided at Hamburg and Munich. He now turned politician and newspaper writer. His Essay on Nobility was written at this time. He presently (in May 1831) went to live in Paris, where he resided until his death, with the exception of making one or two short visits to his native land. Though the fact is not exactly stated, there can be no doubt that he received some very broad hints from the authorities of Prussia to leave that country. From that time, France became his adopted fatherland, and he himself was thenceforward more of a Frenchman than a German. The Germans have indeed always reproached him as being frivolous and French; he has often been called the Voltaire of Germany; but Thiers perhaps described him the most accurately when he spoke of him as being “the wittiest Frenchman since Voltaire.” He wrote French as fluently as German; and the translations of his various works that were published in Paris in the Revue des deux Mondes and the Bibliothèque Contemporaine, or as separate works, were either written by himself, or by his personal friends under his own immediate superintendence. Some of his more important prose works were written soon after he took up his abode in Paris. He wrote, in 1831, a series of articles for the Augsburg Gazette on the State of France, which he subsequently collected and published both in French and German. In 1833 appeared his well-known “History of Modern Literature in Germany,” republished afterwards under the title of “The Romantic School,” and in French under that of “L’Allemagne.” This may be looked upon as his most remarkable prose work, and as the one that most exhibits his characteristic peculiarities. The following lively description of it is from the pen of an eminent French critic: “According to M. Heine, the whole of the intellectual movement of Germany since Lessing and Kant has been a death-struggle against Deism. This struggle he describes with passion, and it may be said that he heads it in person. He ranges his army in order of battle, he gives the signals, and marches the Titans against heaven,—Kant, Fichte, Hegel, all those formidable spirits whose every thought is a victory, whose every formula is a cosmogonic bouleversement. Around them, in front or behind, are grouped a crowd of writers, theologians and poets, romance writers and savans. If one of the combatants stops short, like Schelling, the author overwhelms him with invectives. If a timid and poetic band of dreamers, such as Tieck, Novalis, Brentanc, and Arnim, try to bring back this feverish Germany to the fresh poetry of the middle ages, he throws himself upon them and disperses them, like those Cobolds in the ‘Book of Songs’ who overthrew the angels of paradise. And when the philosophical conflict is over, he predicts its consequences with a sort of savage delirium.... He compares Kant to the bloodthirsty dictators of ’93, and proclaims the gospel of pantheism. His theory of the intellectual history of the Germans is altogether false, and should only be consulted as an illustration—alas, too positive!—of the fever at once mystical and sensual of a certain period of our age.” This book produced a perfect storm of fury in Germany. “Denounced by Menzel and the pietists as an emissary of Modern Babylon, cursed by the austere teutomaniacs as a representative of Parisian corruption, Heine was not the less suspected by the democrats, who accused him of treason. To this was added official persecution.” {xix} {xx} {xxi} Proceeding to his next work, the publication of his “Salon,” consisting of an interesting series of essays, &c., commenced at Hamburg in 1834, its fourth and last volume not appearing till 1840. A long essay on the Women of Shakespeare appeared in 1839, and in 1840 a violent personal attack on his old friend, the republican poet Börne, then only recently dead,—a work which, with all its talent, did great injury to his reputation. His remaining great prose work, entitled “Lutezia,” or Paris, consists of a collection of valuable articles on French politics, arts, and manners, written by him as the correspondent of the Augsburg Gazette between 1840 and 1844. The only other writings of his in prose that need be specified, entitled respectively “Confessions,” “Dr. Faust,” and the “Gods in Exile,” were written a few years before his death. After the publication of the “Reisebilder,” Heine’s next poetical production was the charming poem of “Atta Troll,” which appeared in 1841, written in a simple trochaic metre,—“four-footed solemn trochees,” as he himself expresses it. This poem has been described as the work of a German Ariosto, combining gaiety and poetry, irony and imagination in perfect proportions. Much worldly wisdom is to be learnt from the instructive history of Atta Troll, the dancing bear of the Pyrenees. The striking interlude in it of the vision of Herodias amongst the spirit huntsmen should not be overlooked. The marriage of Heine seems to have taken place at about this period. His wife, who is often spoken of in his poems in terms of deep affection, and whose name was Mathilde, was a Frenchwoman and a Roman Catholic, and they were married according to the rites of that church. With all his love for Madame Heine, however, he seems to have been very jealous of her, and it is recorded that on one occasion he took it into his head that she had run away from him. He was reassured by hearing the voice of her favourite parrot “Cocotte,” which led him to say, that she would never have gone off without taking “Cocotte” with her. In spite of the bitterness of spirit that pervades all his writings, it is clear that he possessed deep natural affections. His mother survived him; and though almost entirely separated from her for the last twenty-five years of his life, he often introduces her name in his works with expressions of filial reverence. His last visit to Germany in the winter of 1843 seems to have been for the special purpose of visiting her at Hamburg, where she resided. His friends fancied that the “old woman at the Dammthor” (one of the gates of Hamburg), of whom he used to speak, was a myth, but she was no other than his mother. Nothing can be more charming than the manner in which he speaks of both her and his wife in the beautiful little poem called “Night Thoughts.” (See page 179.) In 1844 he published a fresh collection of poems under the title of “New Poems,” to which was added as an appendix “Germany, a Winter Tale.” The former of these was subsequently added by him to his “Book of Songs,” and will be found in its place accordingly in the present volume, as well as his “New Spring,” which formed a part of the same work. The “Germany” is one of his most remarkable works, and contains an account of his journey to Hamburg the previous winter to see his mother that has just been referred to. None of his productions are more thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of satire. Every stage of his journey, from its commencement at the Prussian frontier, to its termination at Hamburg, gives occasion for the display of his wit and sarcastic raillery. It will be seen that many of the passages in the poem were struck out of the original edition by the official Censors. Perhaps the most amusing portions are the episode of the author’s adventures in the Cavern of Kyffhauser with the famous Emperor Barbarossa (not omitting their little conversation respecting the guillotine), and the rencontre with the Goddess Hammonia in the streets of Hamburg, and his subsequent tête-à-tête with her. The extravagance (slightly coarse it must be confessed) of the latter scene is quite worthy of Rabelais, though the poet takes care to tell us that it is intended to imitate Aristophanes. The remonstrances to the King of Prussia, with which the poem concludes, should also not he passed over. In the year 1848, after a premonitory attack in 1847 that passed away, that terrible disease which eventually destroyed Heine’s life, first assailed him in an aggravated form. Commencing with a paralysis of the left eyelid, it extended presently to both eyes and finally terminated in paralysis and atrophy of the legs. The last time he ever left his house was in May, 1848. For eight long years he was confined to his couch, to use his own expression, in a state of “death without its repose, and without the privileges of the dead, who have no need to spend money, and no letters or books to write.” But despite his bodily sufferings, his good spirits never seemed to leave him, his love of raillery did but increase, and little did that public whose interest he continued to excite by the wonderful products of his genius know of his distressing state. In the years 1850 and 1851, in the midst of his fearful malady, Heine composed his last great poetical work entitled “Romancero.” This singular volume is divided into three Books, called respectively “Histories,” “Lamentations,” and “Hebrew Melodies.” The first of these contains a large number of romantic ballads and poems of the most dissimilar character, but all bearing the stamp of the author’s peculiar genius; the second opens with several miscellaneous pieces, including some literary satires, and concludes with twenty pieces bearing the lively title of “Lazarus,” and comprising, as some one has observed, the journal of his impressions as a sick man. The “Hebrew Melodies” are subdivided into three, entitled by Heine “Princess Sabbath,” “Jehuda ben Halevy,” a poem itself in three parts, and “Disputation.” The Jewish descent and Jewish sympathies of the poet are plainly discernible in these Melodies, the most interesting of which, and probably the best of the whole collection contained in the “Romancero,” is that which sets forth the life of Jehuda ben Halevy, the great Hebrew poet of the middle ages. Some critics rank this poem amongst Heine’s very best productions. The concluding piece, “Disputation,” is in Heine’s wildest style, and seems written for the express purpose of destroying the pleasure excited by the one that precedes it. In none of his works is his mocking spirit more plainly discernible. “It is the most Voltairian scene ever imagined by the sceptical demon of his mind.” No one can read this polemical poem without seeing how little Heine himself cared for any received form of religion,—for the Christian faith as professed by him, or the Jewish faith into which he was born. The piece terminates in Heine’s favourite manner, namely, with an unexpected joke in the last line. The collection entitled “Latest Poems” was written three years afterwards. Its name shows that the end was now not far off. The hand of a master is still visible in all these poems, the most interesting of which is perhaps the “Slave Ship,” one of the most powerful productions of Heine’s pen. In the year 1855, he published a French translation of his “New Spring” in the Revue des deux Mondes. And now the end really arrived. On the 17th February, 1856, Henry Heine was at length released from his sufferings in his house in the Avenue Matignon, No. 3, as appears from the obituary notice. The smallness of the attendance at his funeral would seem to show that there was some truth in the saying that he had many admirers but few friends. The only names of note that are recorded as having been present on the occasion are Mignet, Gautier, and Dumas. And this was the man who was recognized as the successor of Goethe in the throne of poetry in {xviii} {xxiii} {xxiv} {xxv} Germany, and whose songs were already household words in all parts of that country! His humour did not leave him till the very last. A few days before his death Hector Berlioz called on him just as a tiresome German professor was leaving the room after wearying him with his uninteresting conversation. “I am afraid you will find me very stupid, my dear fellow! The fact is, I have just been exchanging thoughts with Dr. ——” was his remark. Only a day or two before he expired, he sent back to the printer the last proofs of a new edition of the “Reisebilder.” Heine left a singular will behind him, in which he begged that all religious solemnities should be dispensed with at his funeral, and that, although he called himself a Lutheran, no Lutheran minister should officiate on the occasion. He added that this was not a mere freak of a freethinker, for that he had for the last four years dismissed all the pride with which philosophy had filled him, and felt once more the power of religious truth. He also begged for forgiveness for any offence which, in his ignorance, he might have given to good manners and morals. When the private papers of Louis Philippe fell into the hands of the populace at the sack of the Tuileries in February, 1848, it was discovered that Heine had for many years enjoyed a pension of some 200l. a year on the Civil List. This discovery gave an opening to the republicans for violent attacks on him; but there does not appear to have been anything in the circumstances of the case to make this transaction discreditable to either the giver or the receiver of the pension. Heine is described as having lived in the simplest manner, occupying three small rooms on the third floor, the ménage comprising, in addition to his wife and himself, no one but an old negress as a servant, and “Cocotte,” who has been already alluded to. Heine is beyond question the greatest poet that has appeared in Germany since the death of Goethe. Enough has been said in the course of this brief sketch of his life to show the singular, the unprecedented character of his genius, and to illustrate that combination in his person of two separate natures that we have stated to exist. What more touching trait of character was ever heard of, than the simple fact that although the last eight years of his life were spent in a state of intolerable agony, he left his mother in ignorance of his sufferings to the very last! Yes, when stricken with total blindness, and when dying literally by inches, all his letters to the “old woman at the Dammthor” were written in the most cheerful, happy tone, and he made her believe that his only reason for employing an amanuensis instead of writing with his own hand was that he had a slight affection in his eyes, which would be cured with a little care! The following appreciation of the character of Heine, written while he was still alive, but when the shades of darkness and death were slowly gathering round him, may serve as a fitting termination to these few pages:—“It may be said that Heine bears within him all the misery of a mighty literature that has fallen from his ideal. Let this be his excuse. But now his eyes are closing on this perishable world, whose contradictions and wretchedness provoked his painful gaiety; another world is opening on his mind. There, no more misery, no more irritating contrasts, no more revolting disenchantments; there, all problems are resolved, all struggles cease. If irony, in the case of a capricious and ardent intelligence, could be the faithful mirror of things below, there is no room save for confidence and respect in that spiritual world that his soul’s looks are fast discovering. He sought for serenity in that light raillery which enveloped the whole universe, and played his part in it with grace; but this serenity was incomplete and false, and often suffered his ill-cured sorrows to break forth. True serenity is a higher thing; it is to be found in the intelligence and adoration of that ideal which nothing can affect, that truth which no shadow can obscure.” And so with these words of kindly sympathy, Heinrich Heine,—farewell! EARLY POEMS. SONGS OF LOVE. 1. LOVE’S SALUTATION. Darling maiden, who can be Ever found to equal thee? To thy service joyfully Shall my life be pledged by me. Thy sweet eyes gleam tenderly, Like soft moonbeams o’er the sea; Lights of rosy harmony O’er thy red cheeks wander free. From thy small mouth, full of glee, Rows of pearls peep charmingly; But thy bosom’s drapery Veils thy fairest jewelry. Pure love only could it be That so sweetly thrill’d through me, When I whilome gazed on thee, Darling maid, so fair to see. 2. LOVE’S LAMENT. {xxvi} {xxvii} {xxviii} {1} On night’s secrecy relying, Silently I breathe my woes; From the haunts of mortals flying, Where the cup of pleasure flows. Down my cheeks run tears all burning, Silently, unceasingly; But my bosom’s fiery yearning Quench’ed by tears can never be. When a laughing urchin, gaily Many a merry game I play’d; In life’s sunshine basking daily, Knowing nought of grief or shade. For a garden of enjoyment Was the world I then lived in, Tending flowers my sole employment, Roses, violets, jessamine. By the brook’s side, on the meadow, Sweetly mused I in those days; Now I see a pale thin shadow, When upon the brook I gaze. Pale and thin my grief hath made me, Since mine eyes upon her fell; Secret sorrows now pervade me, Wonderful and hard to tell. Deep within my heart I cherish’d Angel forms of peace and love, Which have fled, their short joys perish’d, To their starry home above. Ghastly shadows rise unbidden, Black night round mine eyes is thrown; In my trembling breast is hidden A sad whisp’ring voice unknown. Unknown sorrows, unknown anguish Toss me wildly to and fro, And I pine away and languish, Tortured by an unknown glow. But the cause why I am lying Rack’d by fiery torments now,— Why from very grief I’m dying,— Love, behold!—The cause art thou! 3. YEARNING. {2} With sweetheart on arm, all my comrades with joy Beneath the linden trees move; But I, alas, poor desolate boy, In utter solitude rove Mine eye grows dim, my heart is oppress’d, When happy lovers I see; For a sweetheart by me is also possess’d, But, alas, far distant is she. I have borne it for years, with a heart fit to break, But no longer can bear with the pain; So pack up my bundle, my pilgrim’s staff take, And start on my travels again. And onward I go for hundreds of miles, Till I come to a city renown’d; A noble river beneath it smiles, With three stately towers ’tis crown’d. And now my late sorrows no longer annoy, Made happy at last is my love; For there, with my sweetheart on arm, I with joy Can beneath the sweet linden trees rove. 4. THE WHITE FLOWER In father’s garden there silently grows A flow’ret mournful and pale; The spring-time returns, the winter’s frost goes, Pale flow’ret remaineth as pale. The poor pale flower looks still Like a young bride that’s ill. Pale flow’ret gently saith to me— “Dear brother, pluck me, I pray!” I answer pale flow’ret—“That must not be, I never will take thee away. I seek with anxious care A purple flow’ret fair.” Pale flow’ret saith—“Seek here, seek there, Seek e’en till the day of thy death, But still that purple flow’ret fair Thou’lt seek in vain,” she saith. “But, prythee, pluck me now, I am as ill as thou.” Thus whispers pale flow’ret, beseeching me sore; I tremblingly pluck her, and lo! I find my heart suddenly bleeding no more, Mine inward eye brightly doth glow. Mute angel-rapture blest Now fills my wounded breast. 5. PRESENTIMENT. Yonder, where the stars glow nightly, We shall find those joys smile brightly Which on earth seem far away. Only in Death’s cold embraces Life grows warm, and light replaces Night’s dark gloom at dawn of day. 6. {3} {4} When I am with my sweetheart kind, A happy youth am I; So great the wealth within my mind, I the whole world could buy. But when her swanlike arms I quit, In that sad hour of pain, Away my boasted wealth doth flit, And I am poor again. 7. I would the songs I’m singing Had little flow’rets been; I’d send them to my sweetheart For her to smell, I ween. I would the songs I’m singing Were kisses all unseen; I’d send them all in secret Upon her cheeks to glean. I would the songs I’m singing Were little peas so green; I’d make some capital pea-soup All in a soup-tureen! 8. Of peace, and happiness, and heart, Thou, loved one, long time hast bereft me; And of the gifts that thou hast left me Not one of these doth form a part. For peace, heart, happiness, hast thou To me a life-long sorrow given, With bitter words commingled even,— O take these back, my loved one, now. 9. Remember’st thou those fiery glances In which his trust the novice plac’d? That long-denied first kiss of passion The ardent lover stole in haste? O glances, ye experienced fish-hooks, On which the fish is captive brought! O kiss, thou charming rod of honey, With which the bird is limed and caught! 10. Thou spak’st and gav’st a lock to me Of thy dear silken hair; “Wear this, and I for ever thee “Within my heart will wear.” Full oft have heart and hair been call’d To act this loving part. Now say: is not thy head yet bald? And full thy little heart? 11. {5} You, loved one, assured me so strongly, I wellnigh fancied it true; That you asserted it was so, Was no sign of folly in you. But that I almost believed it, ’Tis this that I so rue. 12. I’ve seen full many a tragedy play’d, Extracting my tears like magic; But ’mongst them all, that touching scene Had an end by far the most tragic, Wherein thou tookedst the principal part, While I at thy feet was panting,— How well thou actedst the innocent one, Thou actress most enchanting! 13. Ask not what I have, my loved one,— Ask me rather what I am; For but little wealth I boast of, But I’m gentle as a lamb. Do not ask me how I’m living, But for what, that ask of me; For I live in want, and lonely, Yet I live alone for thee. Do not ask me of my pleasures, Ask not of my bitter smart; Pleasure ever flies his presence Who doth own a broken heart. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. GERMANY. 1815. Let me sing Germania’s glory! Hearken to my noblest strains! While my spirit tells the story, Thrilling bliss runs through my veins. Time’s book is before me lying, All things that have happened here, Good with Evil ever vying— All before my gaze stands clear. From the Frenchman’s distant nation Hell approach’d, with impious hand, Bringing shame and desecration On our much-loved German land. All our faith and virtue soiling, All our heavenly yearnings fled, All we deemed of worth, despoiling,— Giving sin and pain instead. German shame to gild refusing, Dark the German sun soon grew, And a mournful voice accusing Pierced the German oak trees through. Now the sun once more is glancing, {6} {7}
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