HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

Bard of Democracy
scintillating brilliance and refrained from claiming
the poet for any contemporary political party or
economic group. Heine's achievements, stripped of
emotional partisanship, thus loomed more clearly
and convincingly. Baerlein's final judgment of his
hero was as follows: "He who injudiciously would
lift Heine into the heavens, he would do violence
to truth and to Heine as he wished to be. Much
did the poet scoff at, much did he destroy; but also
a great deal did he rebuild and raise up out of the
deep places of his heart. Certain roads he mined,
yet many roads he traced; and as a road-maker let
us honor him." ^^
Walter, in his volume of 1930, attempted a critical
examination of the poet and his works. Walter's
Heine was not a pessimist akin to Leopardi or James
Thomson but rather an incredible incarnation of
unconquerable optimistic egotism. He was not insincere
but rather the man of the moment, the artist
of momentary impressions. He was consistent in
being ever inconsistent. He was true to his convictions
but his convictions were never stable, for
they were governed by his moods and these were
ever changing. He was not a Jewish poet any more
than Chamisso, who was born of French parentage,
was a French poet. His so-called Oriental imagery
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