HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Heinrich Heine
racial hatreds as a basis for nationahsm. Germany
seemed to prefer selfish patriotism to Heine's unselfish
kind and would not hsten to his passionate
pleadings. Therein Germany erred. Despite his
veneer of mockery, he was a true patriot of his
fatherland.
Edward Dowden pointed out, on the centenary
of Heine's birth, that the poet was undoubtedly a
brave soldier in the battle for greater freedom —
but hardly a leader. Though a swarm of ideas
played through his mind, he was not a coherent
thinker in politics and he lacked the organizing
genius which devises a campaign and sees it through
to the bitter end: "A brave soldier — but undisciplined,
ready in a moment to discharge a musket
at his neighbor in the ranks, and therefore ill-fitted
for regular service. A brilliant guerilla chief, at
most, who harassed the enemy, and sometimes disturbed
the encampment of his friends." ^ Heine's
championship of democracy required sceptical scrutiny.
Though he waged war against German aristocratic
pride and privilege, he was himself an
intellectual aristocrat. His sympathy for the common
man was an aristocrat's luxury. He loved the
common people — but at a distance. He sensed
that the political future belonged to the populace
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