Literature of the world : an introductory study . de a trip toItaly, lived for a period in Berlinand Hamburg, and finally, troubledby the failure of the 1830 revolu-tion and the continued unfortunatepolitical condition of Germany,went to Paris in 1831. There hemade his home thenceforth, sup-porting himself mainly by journal-ism. Several collections of hiswritings were made before he died. There were many contradic-tions in his nature. He was witty, pessimistic, bitterly cynical,skeptical, sentimental, a lover of France and Germany alike, andneither strongly Jewish nor strongly Christian. His v
Literature of the world : an introductory study . de a trip toItaly, lived for a period in Berlinand Hamburg, and finally, troubledby the failure of the 1830 revolu-tion and the continued unfortunatepolitical condition of Germany,went to Paris in 1831. There hemade his home thenceforth, sup-porting himself mainly by journal-ism. Several collections of hiswritings were made before he died. There were many contradic-tions in his nature. He was witty, pessimistic, bitterly cynical,skeptical, sentimental, a lover of France and Germany alike, andneither strongly Jewish nor strongly Christian. His varying moodsare reflected in his poems. It seems clear that Heine is the chiefGerman lyric poet since Goethe. He appreciated deeply both thesea and the inland country, and his lyrics contain much symbolismbased upon nature. His love poems are tender and poignant. Fewmen have ever written such melodious verse. As a prose writer hewas scarcely less gifted. Hence he has always had many admirersin France, England, and America, as well as in HEINRICH HEINE GERMAN LITERATURE 285 The Modern Period The later history of German literature is extraordinarily complex,for the number of German writers since 1830 has been legion, as thereader may discover by referring to any compendium of literature,or as will be quite evident to him if he will recall the Germannovelists and short-story writers, dramatists, poets, critics, his-torians, and philosophers of the modern period. However, therehas not emerged in Germany a Dickens, a Balzac, a Tolstoy, or aMaupassant, a Sainte-Beuve, or an Ibsen; and it is not thereforeour purpose to devote more than passing attention to the later litera-ture, even though in amount and in its average quality it is un-deniably impressive, and though it has had much influence uponthe other literatures of recent times. During the two decades following 1830 the strong nationalistfeeling in Germany was reflected in the Young Germany move-ment. The impulse of it
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