Heine, (Christian Johann) Heinrich 1797-1856
German poet and essayist

Born of Jewish parents in D�sseldorf, he studied banking in Frankfurt and law in Bonn, Berlin and G�ttingen. In Berlin in 1821 he published Gedichte ('Poems'), which was an immediate success, followed by Lyrisches Intermezzo (1823, 'Lyrical Intermezzo'), the first and second volumes of the prose Reisebilder (1826-27, 'Pictures of Travel') and the well-known Das Buch der Lieder (1827, revised 1844, Eng trans Book of Songs, 1856). In 1825 he became a Christian to secure the rights of German citizenship, but because of his revolutionary opinions, he could not be employed in Germany. He went into voluntary exile in Paris after the 1830 revolution. Having written two more volumes of Reisebilder (1830-31, all four vols Eng trans Pictures of Travel, 1855), he turned to politics, becoming leader of the cosmopolitan democratic movement. He wanted to make the French and the Germans acquainted with one another's intellectual and artistic achievements, and produced many works about both cultures, such as Franz�sische Zust�nde (1833, Eng trans French Affairs, 1889), first printed in the Allgemeine Zeitung; De l'Allemagne (1835), and the French version of Die Romantische Schule (1836, Eng trans The Romantic School, 1882). His attack on Ludwig B�rne, Ludwig B�rne: Eine Denkschrift (1840, Eng trans Ludwig B�rne: Portrait of a Revolutionist, 1881) resulted in a duel. From 1848, while confined to bed by spinal paralysis, his publications included Neue Gedichte (1844, revised 1851, Eng trans New Poems, 1910) and three volumes of Vermischte Schriften (1854, 'Various Writings'). Many of his poems were set to music, most notably by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

Bibliography: H Spencer, Heinrich Heine (1982)