Schaller 1
Joseph Schaller
Mrs Dianna Cason
ENG 2206
Due date
The Romantic Poet who could not be erased form history, Heinrich Heine.
Heinrich Heine was nineteenth-century German Jewish poet. The Nazis party had tired to remove him form the history of german. He was a Romantic poet that could not be removed form there past. Heine's most famous piece work was Heinrich Heine's Book of Songs. A lot of Heine's early Romantic works where influenced by old German folklore. Many of his verusus where used in music by well known composer like Brahmas, Schubert, and List. Book of Songs was his only work to be well received in Germany. His view's where a lot different then other Romantics in German. Heine often focused on unreturned love and despair. The poem “Die Lorelei” became one of his most famous poems in German. This work was later attributed to a unknown author by the Nazis party in the 1930's because they could not erase it form the culture and minds of the German people.
The poem “ Die Lorelei” is translated to “The Lorelei”. This poem is about a rock on the Rhine river. It is stands to the soaring height of 393 feet above the waterline and is the narrowest part of the river. This section of the river is the cause of many boat accidents. Heine was inspired by the old folklore tale of the Lore Lay that is often associated with this rock. In this poem he depicts the bewitching Lore Lay as a siren on the cliffs of the Rhine river, sitting on the top of the rock to enchant and distract the boat man passing by. It is a free verse poem written in the style of lyric poetry. This work is also consider a ballad poem and is one of the key reason why it flows with composed music so well. “The Loreli” can also be sung as well.
The poem contains six stanzas all written in quatrain form. In the first stanza Heine starts to tell the ballad form the first person point of view.
“ I cannot explain the sadness
That's fallen on my breast.
An old, old fable haunts me,
And will not let me rest.”
Like many of Heinrich Heine works this based upon old folklore. In the second stanza is the actual telling of the old fable. He uses diction to make the reader really feel like they are there, and also gives the reader a real feel of the scenery.
“The air grows cool in the twilight,
And softly the Rhine flows on;
The peak of a mountain sparkles
Beneath the setting sun.”
In the third and fourth stanza the image of the siren Lore Lay is painted for the reader. The way in which Heine describes the siren makes it very easy to visualize her sitting in the rock bluffs above. She is sitting there waiting to enchant the near by boatman passing by. In a way the rock bluffs are given a personification by depicting a siren sitting in them.
“More Lovely than a vision,
A girl sits high up there;
Her golden jewelry glistens,
She combs her golden hair.”

With a comb of gold she combs it,
And sings an evensong;
The wonderful melody reaches
A boat, as it sails along.”
In the fifth and sixth’s stanza the boatman has been trapped by the siren's beauty and her song. He is slowly floating to his doom into the rocks around him. The boatman is so enchanted by the siren's song that he sail's to his doom.
“The boatman hears, with an anguish
More wild than was ever known;
He's blind to the rocks around him;
His eyes are for her alone.

-At last the waves devoured
The boat, and the boatman’s cry;
And this she did with her singing,
The golden Lorelei.”
A lot of Hiene's later works where not well received in German due to the fact that a lot of the country was influenced by the right political movement. Heine was starting to write about more political issues and less Romanticism. Heinrich Heine was labeled as a radical who's views where more like those in Paris. He published “ Ideen: Das Buch Le Grand”,which was a satire piece about German censorship. To get away form the the controversy of this work he left German to stay in England for a short time. Heine did not enjoy it there so he returned home. After the death of father, and the controversy he was facing after some of his newest work Hiene had moved to Paris. He had made this move in 1831. Hiene spent the last 25 years of his life in Paris. In France he had a lot more success due to the fact that his views were widely accepted there. In 1848 Heinrich had became become paralyzed and confined to bed form chronic lead poisoning. He still continued to write even though he was confined to a bed.
Heinrich Heine died in 1856 in Paris and was buried there , he never returned to German.
In the year 1933 the Nazi party had the famous book burning in Belelplatz public square. They burned many of Heine's works there with many others. Even seventy-seven years after his death Heine was being faced with a lot of anti-Semitic demonization by the extreme right Nazis movement. His work was often one the most attacked by those in the Nazis party. Most of his work had been banned and burned. “ The Lorelei” was one of the few parts of his work that could not be burned out of the hearts of many Germans. To this day in Bebelplatz square is a glass plate in the center of the square.A line form Heinrich Heine's play “Almansor” is engraved on this plate,it says "That was only a prelude; where they burn books, they will in the end also burn people". This plate is to commemorate the book burning that took place there in 1933 . In the end the Nazi party help make Heinrich Heine more famous. He was poet even after his death he could could not be erased form the hearts and mind of the German people.

http://www.enotes.com/topics/heinrich-heine/critical-essays/heine-heinrich-vol-147 http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2009/11/heinrich-heine-lorelei-from-german.html http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Heinrich_Heine.aspx http://www.egs.edu/library/heinrich-heine/biography/ https://www.knomi.net/fileServer/textbook/English/britishLit/data/u4_themes_lorelei_se.pdf