HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Heinrich Heine
ties, his failings could be forgiven. The Titan,
chained to the rock and writhing in pain, ought not
to be annoyed by the pinpricks of pygmies. Conservatives,
who denounced Heine as a social incendiary,
and radicals, who upbraided him for his
half-hearted espousal of their cause, were equally
at fault. "Why should we demand of Heine that
he should be a hero, a patriot, a solemn prophet,
any more than we should demand of a gazelle that
it should draw well in harness? Nature has not made
him of her sterner stuff — not of iron and adamant,
but of pollen of flowers, the juice of the grape, and
Puck's mischievous brain, plenteously mixing also
the dews of kindly affection and the gold-dust of
noble thoughts."
George Ehot's apotheosis of Heine in 1856 ushered
in the mid-Victorian era of Heine-worship in
England and America. Her essay appeared not alone
in the Westminster Review. It was reprinted in the
Eclectic Magazine, in Litell's Living Age, and in
later editions of her works.^ It had wide circulation
and enduring influence.
About this time also there began to circulate
among English readers numerous translations of
Heine's verse and prose.^ Periodicals and publishers
welcomed the contributions of his admirers. Julian
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