HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Bard of Democracy
a politician, a sentimentalist and a satirist. He is
tossed hither and thither by his passing moods, as
withered leaves are tossed by autumn winds. In his
gayest mirth we catch the glitter of tear-drops, in
his loudest laughter we hear a wail of despair . . .
The lines seem to drip blood as we read them, and a
strange awe holds us spellbound — when, suddenly,
there flashesacross the page, like a gleam of purple
lightning, one of those deadly coruscations of wit
with which Heine struck and stabbed at many a
reputation. Hardly has the deep thunder-roll of savage
laughter died away, before there rises again the
wail and cry as of the death-agony of a lost soul; and
then there is a sudden change in the music, and the
lines skip and leap, ripple and run as if to the accompaniment
of dancing feet. Now he holds us in awe
solemn and silent as when we stand at twilight in the
cool recesses of some dim-aisled minster, and listen
to the dying cadences of the organ song; now there
rises in the silence which he himself has created a
wild burst of mocking and ribald laughter." ^^
Maurice Hewlett looked up to Heine as the best
lyric poet in the world's history. This successful
English novelist, who was less successful in his striving
for the poetic laurel, wrote towards the end of
his life, in January, 1919: "I think that if I could be
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