Heine, Heinrich (Christian Johann) (1797-1856)

German Romantic poet and journalist. He wrote Reisebilder (1826-31), blending travel writing and satire, and Das Buch der Lieder/The Book of Songs (1827). Disillusioned by undercurrents of anti-Semitism and antiliberal censorship, he severed his ties with Germany and from 1831 lived mainly in Paris. His Neue Gedichte/New Poems appeared in 1844. He excelled in both the Romantic lyric and satire. Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann set many of his lyrics to music.

His first volume of verse, Gedichte/Poems, appeared 1821, followed by Lyrisches Intermezzo (1823). In Paris he wrote penetrating political essays and turned towards satire; for example, Deutschland (1844), a political satire in verse. His Atta Troll (1847) has been described as ‘the swansong of Romanticism’.

Heine was born in Düsseldorf. He began his working life in banking but, having failed in business, studied law in Bonn 1819. He moved to Göttingen and then Berlin, where he became a student of the philosopher Hegel. A holiday in the Black Forest in 1825 gave him the material for the first volume of Reisebilder. The next few years were spent visiting London, Munich, and Italy. Das Buch der Lieder was an immediate success and went through 13 editions in Heine's lifetime.

After another visit to Berlin in 1829 and a brief stay in Hamburg 1829-31, Heine made Paris his home, working as a correspondent for German newspapers. In 1835 he headed a list of writers forbidden to publish in Germany. He revisited Germany only for short periods in 1843 and 1847. In Paris he was welcomed by the Romantic circle of Victor Hugo, George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier, Charles Sainte-Beuve, the musicians Frédéric Chopin and Hector Berlioz, and the painter Eugène Delacroix. De l'Allemagne (1835) and Die romantische Schule (1836) are Heine's chief works of this period.

He received a pension from the French government 1837-48. Der Salon (four volumes) appeared between this time and 1840, including his essays German Philosophy and Literature written for the Revue des deux mondes. In 1845 he contracted a spinal disease that confined him to his bed from 1848 until his death. Among his last works were Romanzero (1851) and Neueste Gedichte (1853-54).