HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Hellenist and Cultural Pessimist
government, however, acted in all respects just
contrary to Heine's advice. Instead of refraining
from interference with Germany, as the poetic seer
begged, it continually meddled and muddled. Instead
of concihatmg old anhnosities, it created new
ones. Instead of keeping armed and watchful, it
remained impotent and unready. By ignoring the
German prophet, it suffered disastrous invasion and
ignominious defeat.
Heine, the cultural pessimist, appealed to the
darker side of Thomson. Heine, the spiritual
brother of Leopardi and the scoffer at all things
traditional, confirmed the gloomy Enghsh bard in
his despair and disgust amidst the horrible and noisy
solitude of London. Heine, the sardonic seer of a
coming apocalypse, supplied literary weapons to
Thomson, the political nihilist and disciple of
Charles Bradlaugh. Heine, the modern satyr who
gloated because the death of all the gods was at
hand, spurred the English atheist on to greater extremes
of blasphemy. Seeking solace in drink and
in poetry, Thomson often quoted the martyr of
Montmartre who questioned fate and who finally
concluded that the only answer which ever came
was a handful of earth that stopped up the mouth
of the questioner.
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