Heine [Germany]
There is a pine tree in the north.
Independent on the bare top of the mountain,
He sleeps in white,
Covered with ice and snow.
He dreamed of a palm tree.
Independent in the distant sunrise
On the top of the burning cliff
She is silently mourning.
(translated by Bai Fei)
Henrich Heine (1797— 1856) is a German romantic poet. The ancient German lyric school ended with Heine's appearance in the poetic world.
18 16 years old, Heine 19 years old, working in a rich uncle's company. Some time later, his uncle helped him to open an English textile agency in Hamburg. Unfortunately, Heine was not good at management and soon closed down. The poet's only achievement here is to create a group of poems "Lyric Interlude" under the beautiful reflection of his cousin Amalie Heine. Write an oriental romance with a romantic mood.
Amalie is Uncle Heine's third daughter. The poet once described her outstanding charm with warm brushstrokes: her eyes, her lips and her warm cheeks. However, the poet's selfless pursuit did not make Amari really fall in love with him. Occasionally, a visual chat, or a shoulder-grinding stroll, can only be regarded as the best seasoning in the poet's pursuit of love, which makes his bitter dream of not having enough to eat a little sweet and finally willing to go through hardships. He saw his beautiful cousin Amalie married to a manor owner who was as rich as his uncle in Anisiburg. The pain of unrequited love and abandonment depressed the poet, so he wrote a group of poems, Lyric Interlude. There is a pine tree in the north, which is the most famous poem in the group.
The first section of the poem is a self-portrait of the poet's feelings, and the illusion with a sense of image constitutes a set of lyrical artistic conception: "There is a pine tree in the north/independent on the bare top of the mountain". The combination of two images, one is through the ages, and the other is endless desert, which is quite annoying. In the snowy north, the poet overlooks the true feelings, letting the cold wind cut his face and the snow bury his body, but his heart of love is not diminished, like flying snow permeating the valley, like bright red cold plum venting its red sorrow in the cold. The poet compares himself to a pine tree, "sleeping in a piece of white, covered with ice and snow." Loneliness and bitterness are all in it.
The poet opened the next verse of the poem with fantastic poetic meaning: "He dreamed that a naked palm was independent in the distant sunrise country". Here, the poet compares his sweetheart with a palm, imagining that she is staying in the bright and warm East for a long time, looking at her attached home, where the poet who considers himself a saint echoes the previous section "A pine tree on a bare top/independence". The two places have two feelings, but they are from the heart of one person (poet). Compared with the previous festival, "the whole body is covered with snow and ice", it is even more hateful and sad.
The whole poem is concise and lyrical. Contrast each other by juxtaposing two emotional pictures, and transmit their sorrows and joys remotely. The simple image combination constructed by conciseness paves the lyric background of the protagonist, which is quiet and far-reaching, broad and profound. The poem also uses "palm trees" and "burning cliffs" to allude to the mysterious country of the East (India), so that the love that cannot be realized in reality echoes in distant places.