Heinrich Heine, a famous German lyric poet. He is the author of "The Troubles of Youth", "Lyric Interlude", "Returning Hometown Collection", "Beihai Collection" and other poems.
Heinrich Heine (Heinrich Heine, also translated as Heinrich Heine, December 13, 1797-February 17, 1856) was born on December 13, 1797 in Dussel, Germany. Dove is a famous German poet. His representative works include the long poem "Germany, a Winter's Fairy Tale", the poem "The Sicilian Weavers", and the essay "On the Romantics". During his childhood and adolescence he experienced the Napoleonic Wars. Heine was born in Dusseldorf on the Rhine to a poor Jewish businessman family. In 1795, Napoleon's army marched into the Rhine Valley and carried out some democratic reforms to Germany's feudal system. As Engels pointed out, Napoleon "was the representative of the revolution in Germany, the disseminator of revolutionary principles, and the destroyer of the old feudal society." These reforms of the French army have comprehensively improved the social status of the discriminated against Jews. Therefore, Heine has accepted the influence of French bourgeois revolutionary ideas since childhood. From 1819 to 1823, Heine studied law and philosophy at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin. He listened to lectures by the romantic writer August Wilhelm Schlegel and the idealist philosopher Hegel. Heine began literary creation as early as the age of 20. His early poems: "The Troubles of Youth", "Lyric Interlude", "Returning Home", "Beihai Collection" and other poems are mostly based on personal experiences and love distress. The theme reflects the suppression of personality under feudal autocracy and the distress of not being able to find a way out. In the winter semester of 1820, he came to the University of G?ttingen, where he joined a student organization. However, only in January 1821, he was forced to leave the school and the organization. Still in G?ttingen, Heine received his doctorate in law in 1825. "I feel the same pain as some people in Germany. If I tell you the worst pain, I will also tell my pain." ("Every morning when I am") The personal feelings expressed in these poems have a unique certain social significance. When these poems were collected and published in 1827, they were titled "Collected Poems". They express a distinct romantic style, with simple and sincere feelings and rich folk songs, and are welcomed by readers. Many of the poems have been set to music by composers and have been widely circulated in Germany. They are among the best works of German lyric poetry. From 1824 to 1828, Heine traveled to many places in his motherland and traveled to Britain, Italy and other countries. Due to his extensive contact with society, he deepened his understanding of real society and wrote four prose travel notes. In the first "Travel to the Harz Mountains", Heine described the suffocating current situation of Germany in the 1920s in a humorous and lively style, satirizing the feudal reactionary rulers, outdated universities, vulgar philistines, and reactionary A nationalist and passive romantic; he describes the magnificent natural scenery of the motherland with a strong lyrical style, and at the same time depicts the working life of miners in the mountainous areas with deep sympathy. In the second volume "Ideas - Le Grande's Collected Works", Heine described the scene of the French army entering his hometown, portrayed the image of Napoleon, and expressed the author's yearning for the French Revolution and his hatred of German feudal rule. In the third volume of Italian travel notes such as "Travel from Munich to Genoa", the Italian scenery and social life are described, the reactionary nature of aristocratic Catholicism is exposed, and the tendency of aristocratic writers to break away from reality is criticized. In the fourth part, "British Fragments", the writer depicts the sharp opposition between the wealthy aristocracy and bourgeoisie and the working people, and exposes the greed and plunder of the big bourgeoisie. The main tendency of these four travel notes is to criticize Germany's feudal reactionary rule and hope that a relatively thorough bourgeois revolution will break out in Germany. The creation of these four travel notes shows that Heine has grown into a revolutionary democrat ideologically. In terms of art, Heine has shifted from the description of personal encounters and emotions in his youth to the exploration of social reality, heading towards the path of realism. Heine's ideological contradictions and doubts in his later years were prominently reflected in his belief and understanding of communism. His ideological contradictions were a product of that era. As Lenin said in memory of Herzen, "It is The revolutionary nature of the bourgeois democrats is withering away, while the revolutionary nature of the socialist proletariat has not yet matured. This is a product and reflection of an era of world historical significance." At the same time, it also reflects the limitations of Heine's own bourgeois worldview. Heine died on February 27, 1856.
Edit this section of literary career
Heine was born in a Jewish businessman's family in Dusseldorf, Germany. His father, Samson Heine, failed in his woolen business, and his family was in dire straits; his mother, Betty Heine, was the daughter of a doctor, virtuous, well-educated, and fond of literature and art. Under her influence, the poet developed an early interest in literature. He wrote his first poem when he was still in middle school at the age of fifteen. However, he had to follow his father's orders and embark on the road of business. At the age of eighteen He went to work as a trainee in a bank in Frankfurt, and in the second year he continued his internship in the bank opened by his uncle Solomon Heine in Hamburg.
In the home of his wealthy uncle, Heine not only experienced the feeling of being dependent on others (the poem "The Mansion of Humiliation" reflects his experience at that time), but also suffered from the pain of love and lovelorn, because he loved with all his heart regardless of the disparity in family status. He fell in love with his cousin Amalie - a charming lady whom he described in his poem as "a welcoming smile with a deceitful heart". In the autumn of 1819, due to the failure of the Harry Heine Textile Company established with the help of his uncle the previous year, his father, who was doing business in Dusseldorf, also went bankrupt. The young Heine completely lost his interest and courage in doing business, so he accepted his uncle's suggestion and entered the University of Bonn to study law, preparing to become a lawyer in the future. However, he had been fond of literature and art since he was a child and had no intention of studying law. Instead, he often listened to August William Schlegel's Literature Lessons. Schlegel was an outstanding German romantic theorist, linguist and Shakespeare translator. Heine regarded him as his "great mentor", and his early literary creation was encouraged and guided by him. In addition, from the collection of German folk songs "The Boy's Strange Horn" compiled and published by the romantic poets Arnim and Brentano, and from the works of romantic poets such as Urant and William Miller, young people The poet gained a lot of enlightenment and absorbed a lot of nutrition; he admired Goethe and followed the advice of his "mentor" Schlegel to read Goethe's works honestly; he introduced the British romantic poet Byron as a confidant. Not only did he translate Byron's poems into German, he also imitated Byron's clothing and style, and accepted Byron's influence in his creations. In the 1820s, he was once called the "German Byron". It is no wonder that Heine's early poetry creation showed many romantic characteristics, such as often describing dreams, liking to use folk legends as themes, and the style was mostly close to folk songs, etc. But that's all, because he himself did not belong to this literary school that had gradually become outdated in Germany at that time. Later, in 1846, in the preface to the long poem "Atta Troll - A Midsummer Night's Dream", Heine summed up his relationship with the Romantics: "...I was in I spent the happiest youth of my life among the Romantics, and finally gave my teacher a beating..." Because in "On the Romantics" written in 1833, he had already described this group, including himself, " Factions including Mentor" Schlegel made severe criticism.
In the autumn of 1820, Heine transferred to the University of G?ttingen. As in Bonn, he had no interest in studying, but often participated in some student club activities. Later, he was suspended from school because of a duel with a classmate, and he had no choice but to transfer to the University of Berlin in the second year. During his stay in Berlin, Heine not only had the opportunity to listen to Hegel's lectures, learn about all the issues that philosophy was concerned about at that time, and have a preliminary grasp of dialectics. He also often visited some local literary salons and got acquainted with Feinhagen Feng. ·The Enze couple, as well as many famous writers at the time such as Chamisso and Fouquet, greatly broadened their horizons and laid an important foundation for becoming a profound and agile critic in the future. At the same time, he also participated in the cultural and political activities of the Jewish community, showing his sympathy and concern for social justice causes and the fate of the Jews.
In 1824, the poet returned to the University of G?ttingen and persisted in studying until graduating from the university in the second year, and received a doctorate in law on July 20. Less than a month before this, he had been baptized and converted to Christianity and became a Lutheran Protestant.
In terms of personal life, because his first love Amalie married a wealthy landowner in August 1821, the poet suffered huge spiritual trauma. More than a year later, in May 1823, he met Amalie's sister Theresa again in Hamburg, fell in love again, and experienced the pain of love and lovelorn. Such unfortunate experiences were clearly reflected in his early lyric poems.
However, as his experience and knowledge increased, Heine's literary creation also began to mature. Not only did his themes and genres become more colorful, but his thoughts became more profound. Especially in 1824, he set out from the university city of G?ttingen to the northeast and roamed on foot in the Harz Mountains and its surrounding areas. Along the way, he enjoyed the natural scenery and carefully observed the world and the people. On this basis, he wrote He wrote "Travel Notes in the Harz Mountains" and opened up a new path for his own creation. In the following four or five years, he wrote a large number of travel notes and prose works. In the 1820s, Heine had actually put more energy into the writing of travel notes, because in his view, the "Collected Poems", which collected his early beautiful and sentimental love poems, was just A "harmless merchant ship", but the travel writings starting from "Travel to the Harz Mountains" are actually "battleships" equipped with many cannons (see Letter to Moses, October 30, 1827 ·Letter from Moser). Whether he was living on the Norderney Island on the coast of the North Sea, or on his way to the ancient civilization of Italy in the south, he focused and carefully built such "gunboats". Between 1821 and 1830, Heine traveled throughout Germany, Poland, England, and Italy. The first "Collected Poems" was published in 1822, followed the following year by "Tragedy - Lyrical Interludes". In 1827, he collected and published his early lyric poems under the title "Songbook", which caused a sensation and established his position in the literary world. During this period, he also wrote prose works such as "Travel Notes in the Harz Mountains", which also aroused great repercussions. Most of Heine's lyric poems and travel notes of this period describe his personal experiences, feelings, and longings, with sincere feelings, beautiful language, and obvious romanticism.
When the July Revolution broke out in France in 1830, Heine was deeply inspired and decided to go to Paris. Here he met writers such as Alexandre Dumas, Belanger, George Sand, Balzac, and Hugo, and musicians such as Liszt and Chopin. He also interacted with followers of the utopian Saint Simon, and was also influenced by this aspect. . During this period he wrote two books: "On the History of German Religion and Peace" (1835) and "On the Romantics" (1836). In order to fight against the empty "tendency poetry" of radical poets, he wrote the long poem "Atta Troll, a Midsummer Night's Dream" (1843). At the end of 1843, Heine and Marx met in Paris. During this period, his poetry creation reached a new peak. He published the "New Poems" (1844), which included a part of the political poem named "Poetry of the Times" and the long poem "Germany, a Winter's Fairy Tale" ( 1844). These poems achieved high achievements in both ideological content and art, and became the strongest voice of the era on the eve of the 1848 Revolution.
After the failure of the revolution in 1848, Heine endured the pain of paralysis and composed many excellent poems by dictation in the "mattress tomb", including "Romanzero" (1851), "1853 to 1854 Collected Poems" and some posthumous poems. Although some of these works are sad, angry and melancholy, most of them are still full of fighting pride and firm confidence in the future of the motherland and mankind. Heine died in Paris on February 17, 1856 and was buried in Montmartre Cemetery. In Paris, the revolutionary center and international cultural metropolis, Heine met great French writers such as Balzac, Dumas, Victor Hugo, and George Sand, as well as famous musical figures such as Chopin, Liszt, and Berlioz. Celebrities and artists often have the opportunity to participate in various literary gatherings, watch performances and visit art exhibitions, leading an intense and fulfilling life, which further broadens their horizons and further activates their thoughts. In the following ten years, although he continued to write poetry, he spent more time and energy writing newsletters and current affairs reviews for German newspapers and periodicals, reporting all aspects of France and Paris in a timely and truthful manner. I wanted the bright sunshine of the French Revolution to dispel the thick darkness shrouding the feudal and divided German Empire, and let the wind of bourgeois progressive ideology dilute the obsolete atmosphere that permeated there, so I produced "The Current State of France" and "On France". A large number of reports and literary reviews such as "Painters", "On French Drama" and "Lu Tai Zia". At the same time, he also introduced German religion, history, culture, philosophy, and social and political status quo to French readers, and wrote important treatises such as "On Romanticism" and "The History of German Religion and Philosophy" to help the French people understand the German spirit. Produce a deeper understanding of all aspects of life. In this way, Heine began the third stage of his writing career that was more closely connected with reality and full of revolutionary spirit. At this stage, in addition to current reviews and literary reviews, Heine also published the novels "Memoirs of Schnapolewopsky", "Florence Nights" and "Bacharach's Law Teacher". It's a pity that these works are all fragments, and poetry creation has almost come to a standstill. This is probably because current events are too turbulent and poets can no longer calm down and engage in pure literary creation. In the words of the famous German Marxist literary critic Franz Melling: "Heine took it extremely seriously in the 1930s. His "apostle's duty" and "tribune's" task, therefore his poetry creation took a rather secondary position. "This means that Heine regarded his duty as a revolutionary warrior more than his duty as a poet. His achievements and honors are still high, but thanks to this, he was able to fully demonstrate his talents as a social observer and critic, which had already emerged in his travel notes, so that future generations can have a glimpse of his broad and profound thinker and heroic and unyielding warrior. Style.
In 1844, Heine met Marx in Paris, formed a close friendship with the younger revolutionary and his comrades, and was influenced by their communist ideals. influence. In November of this year, the poet returned to his motherland for a short period of time to visit his mother for the first time after thirteen years of exile. He was so excited that as soon as he arrived at the border, his heart "beat even more intensely and tears began to drip down." When he discovered that Germany's feudal and backward conditions remained, the poet became even more sad and angry, so he wrote a long poem "Germany, a Winter's Fairy Tale" with a heavy heart. In the poem, he not only denounced and whipped all kinds of reactionary forces, but also issued a call to "establish the kingdom of heaven on earth." This work and the "New Poetry Collection" published together, like the current commentaries and literary reviews mentioned above, have the characteristics of being closely connected with social reality, powerfully criticizing current ills, and full of revolutionary spirit. It is no wonder that Engels excitedly announced that "Heinrich Heine, Germany's most outstanding contemporary poet, has also joined our team", openly admitting that he was a revolutionary fighter.
Entering the 1840s, especially after the success of "Germany, a Winter's Fairy Tale", Heine's poetic spring began to flow rapidly and passionately after drying up for nearly ten years. gushed out, thus beginning the fourth stage of his literary career. At this stage, he wrote a large number of "current affairs poems" as sharp as throwing spears and daggers, such as "The Textile Workers of Silesia", which is known as the "Marseillaise of the German working class", etc., and responded to various reactionary movements. Forces ruthlessly exposed and satirized.
In other words, compared with the lyric poems in his early years, the poet's works at this time have undergone qualitative changes. They are no longer low-pitched songs expressing personal happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, but have become soul-stirring drums and shouts on the battlefield. It is a pity that when the February Revolution broke out in France in 1848 and a revolutionary climax was set off throughout Europe, Heine's poetry creation was interrupted for another one or two years. The reason is that the poet suffered from tuberculosis spinal cord 2 years ago. By 1848, he was bedridden and was struggling with death.
After entering the 1850s, the condition eased slightly. While Heine was composing "poems on current affairs", he also wrote many lyric poems with gloomy and cynical tone, lamenting his unfortunate fate and encounter. As a Jew, he tended to be progressive and revolutionary, so he was persecuted by the German government for a long time. Since 1835, his works have been included in Germany's official banned list and topped the list. It is more difficult for new works to be published in the country and the source of royalties has almost dried up. At the same time, his uncle Solomon Heine's support for him had long been cut off. The poet in exile was very financially strapped, so he had no choice but to receive relief funds from the French government. This matter was known by domestic opponents in 1848, and Heine was viciously attacked. Coupled with the hard work of life and other reasons, his tuberculosis was further worsened. In 1851, accompanied by his wife Mathilde, Heine managed to support his illness and visited the Louvre Museum for the last time. From then on, he struggled in pain for many years in what he called the "mattress tomb". middle. But despite this, the poet still persisted in writing like a soldier who continued to fight until his death, until his death on February 17, 1856. The preface he wrote for the French version of his collection of essays "Ludaizia" a year before his death shows that the warrior poet never regretted it until his death and was always loyal to his communist beliefs and revolutionary ideals.
Edit the stages and characteristics of this paragraph's poetry creation
Heine's origin, experience, contacts and ideological development naturally affected his literary creation, and are also reflected in His works are especially in his poetry. Heine's poetry creation includes lyric poems, current affairs poems, narrative poems, long poems and other styles (or varieties), which can be described as rich and colorful; among them, lyric poems in particular have a distinctive personality and unique style in terms of conception, thinking, and language style. style. Throughout the entire history of German poetry, Heine can be said to be the most outstanding singer after Goethe. In the world of poetry, Heine's achievements and influence are comparable to those of Britain's Byron and Shelley, Russia's Pushkin, and Hungary's Petofi. Most of his lyric poems with love as the theme were composed into songs by great composers from various countries such as Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky. There are more than 3,000 of them, and the number even exceeds those written by him. Goethe, who was revered by Byron as the "King of Poetry", is ranked number one in the world. Among them, such as "Lorelai", "You Are Like a Flower", "There is a Pine Tree in the North", "On the Wings of Singing", "I Cried in a Dream", etc., are favored by composers from all over the world. , has been composed repeatedly, at least sixty or seventy times, and the most "You Are Like a Flower" has been composed more than one hundred and sixty times, which is probably the most in the world. All these popular songs, as well as many similar beautiful and moving lyric poems, have been widely circulated around the world for more than a century, especially loved by young people who are in the troubles and anguish of adolescence and wanderers in foreign lands. .
Most of the above-mentioned lyric poems were written in the early 1820s and 1830s, as well as some poems lamenting one's own fate that were produced in the 1850s. Although they are all sincere and have beautiful melody, It is touching, yet often sentimental, sad and poignant. In sharp contrast, Heine wrote a large number of so-called topical poems in the revolutionary 1830s and 1840s, as well as the rhyme poems produced in 1825 and 1826.
The most famous current affairs poems such as "Ode", "Doctrine", "Tendency", "Wait" and "Weavers of Silesia", etc., all have sonorous tones, heroic and profound momentum. It is so popular among readers that it has become a repertoire of poetry recitals. In fact, these so-called current affairs poems are also excellent lyric poems, but what they express is no longer limited to personal emotions, but revolutionary pride that bursts out of deep concern for the times and the public. Therefore, they also have the characteristics of The soul-stirring power and profound social significance have won wider acclaim. They are battle cries and clarion calls for charge. The so-called current affairs poems should be said to be poems of the times, because they are the strongest voice of the era uttered by the soldier Heine in those revolutionary years.
The two sets of rhyming sea poems describe the vastness, roughness, heroism, turbulence and change of the sea. In other words, they are not purely objective descriptions of natural scenery, but the product of poets using the scenery to express their feelings. , just acting more reservedly. Obviously, although they are both rhyme poems, they express different emotions and their techniques also change accordingly. For example, the three poems "Confession", "Nocturne in the Boat" and "Phantom in the Sea" all involve the same theme of love, but our feelings after reading them are quite different. Among them, "Confession" is much more shocking than Heine's somewhat frivolous love poems in his early years.
To sum up, Heine wrote his first poem at the age of fifteen until he composed his final poem "The Passion Flower" two weeks before his death. Poetry accompanied him almost throughout his life, especially literary creation. Poetry became almost his entire life. His poetry creation can be roughly divided into three stages:
First, in his early years, he was "confined by tenderness" and mainly wrote about his personal love for his cousins ??Amalie and Theresa. love and the pain of broken love. In addition, he also created a set of magnificent poems about the sea, and in other poems, he expressed his sympathy for the French Revolution and his resentment and dissatisfaction with the reality of German society. Heine's works of this period, especially his love poems, are mostly full of depression and sorrow, but they are sad but not resentful. They even make people feel funny and playful from time to time. The whole style is fresh, soft, elegant, simple, simple, and Natural, warm, and full of folk song charm. Guo Moruo admired Heine's poems very much in "The Collection of Three Leaves" published in 1920, calling it "beautiful but not heroic". It should be said that it is appropriate to use it to evaluate Heine's early poetry creation. The most representative works of this period are: "Lorelai", "There is a Pine Tree in the North", "You Are Like a Flower" and "Declaration".
Second, the French July Revolution broke out in 1830. Heine quickly "joined the great fighting ranks of the times", and his poetry creation entered the middle stage of maturity. Inspired by the generally rising revolutionary situation in Europe in the 1840s, and with the help of Marx's influence, his poetry creation reached an unprecedented peak of glory. At this time, the roses and nightingales in his poems had been replaced by swords and flames, and the poet fully demonstrated his "thundering ability." At various stages, Heine created many poems on political current affairs, many of which were powerful and bold, and the sound of trumpets and cannons could be heard from time to time. At this stage, he wrote poems full of fighting spirit such as "Ode", "Doctrine", "Tendency", "Weavers of Silesia" and the long poem "Germany - A Winter's Fairy Tale", especially " "The Textile Workers of Silesia" (1844), is also known as "the Marseillaise of the German working class". 3. In 1845, especially after 1848, affected by the failure of the Great Revolution and the rapid deterioration of his own health, Heine's poetry creation shifted from the high-spirited and passionate middle period to the low and tragic late period. . Reading his chapters of nostalgia for his homeland, lamentation about life, and cynicism, we seem to see the poet tossing and turning in the "mattress tomb", gritting his teeth, enduring indescribable physical and mental pain, and fighting against enemies and fate. This fateful society is making a tenacious and final struggle. Although his works of this period are inevitably filled with disappointment and hesitation, and the style tends to be sad and pathos, they have always maintained an optimistic fighting spirit. His style is still so natural, simple, and sincere, and there is wit and humor between the lines from time to time. Works such as "Where to Go Now", "Determined Sentinel" and "Testament" all express the poet's warrior sentiments of preferring to bend rather than bend and die rather than surrender. It may be worth emphasizing here that the wit and humor that runs through Heine's entire creation should be said to be the most prominent talent characteristic that distinguishes him from all other lyric poets. It is it that reveals Heine's true nature as a sharp-eyed thinker, making his poems deeper, richer and more thought-provoking. In different works of different periods, this kind of humor may appear as self-mockery of unfortunate circumstances, or as friendly ridicule of friends, or as sharp satire of enemies... This kind of humor, in essence, In other words, it is a reflection of Heine's positive and optimistic nature and indomitable fighting spirit.
Since the 20th century, through the translations and introductions of Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Duan Kerqing, Feng Zhi, Lin Lin and other senior writers and translators, Heine has become very familiar and loved by the vast number of readers in our country. a foreign poet. Yang Wuneng published a new translation in 1999. In the process of re-selecting and re-translating his lyric poems and current affairs poems, Yang Wuneng learned a lot from the old translations of his predecessors, especially his professional teacher Professor Feng Zhi, in order to make this new translation more complete and more readable. Sex, more catchy and poetic. This collection mainly refers to the selection and translation of the first volume of the 15th edition of "Heine's Five Volumes" published by Berlin and Weimar Construction Publishing House in 1978. During the compilation process, the great influence of Mr. Feng Zhi was referred to. "Selected Poems of Heine" (People's Literature Publishing House, 1957 edition), as well as selected works by Mr. Qian Chunqi and Mr. Zhang Yushu who have made great achievements in translating and introducing Heine.
In the history of modern German literature, Heine can be called the most outstanding poet, essayist and thinker after Lessing, Goethe and Schiller. He was not only good at writing poetry, travel notes and prose, but also wrote many literary criticism and other treatises with profound thoughts, unique style and rich literary beauty, leaving a rich, huge, glorious and precious spirit to future generations. wealth. Heine is good at writing poetry, prose and travel notes. Whether it is his personal temperament and temperament, or his creative achievements and influence, we can first respect him as an outstanding lyric poet and a great singer of the times.