Lyric Poems and Ballads

by Heinrich Heine

Softbound book very good. Covers show some wear with crease at lower left near spine and a little shelf wear at spine; binding sound; pages lightly tanned, but very good and unmarked otherwise. 195 pages; 8 X 5.5 X 0.5; 15 oz. shipping weight. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) was one of the great poets of German romanticism. He was a nearly exact contemporary of the composer Franz Schubert, who set some of his lyric poems to music. His biography and family history resemble that of Felix Mendelsohn, another great figure of the Romantic age. Like Mendelsohn, he followed his father in converting from Judaism to Lutheranism. This volume is bilingual with German and English translations on facing pages. Translated by Ernst Feise.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose is distinguished by its satirical wit and irony. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris.

Reviews

[Patrick]

As a selection of poems: exceptional, some great exemplars of Heine’s different stages of thought and interest. Great, great selection for any fan of his work.

As a translation: more mixed. Feise takes on some admirable constraints: he sticks to Heine’s line count, maintains consistent rhythm and rhyme throughout, and generally tries his best to create a formal parallel to Heine’s work. The sacrifice: much of Heine’s most evocative idiom and description is lost. Sometimes in small ways, sometimes in larger—but as the literal meaning goes away, so too does Heine’s original imagination and power.

Feise’s translation is impressive in many respects, but I suppose not really what I want—at least in part because I just wanted an aid to the German, lol. Obviously, “faithfully” translating poetry is a fool’s errand because there are a few dozen relevant meanings of “faithful” that pretty quickly butt heads. Still, I think an English reader would be better served by a more literal rendering of Heine that sacrifices some of the parallels to his traditional form. Ernst Feise, if you were alive, I would have to commend you for doing so much in pursuit of the impossible, but it’s not how I would approach the text.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the stars fade away and the waters fall silent and the weary universe goes to rest, Gonzo the Great will sing this song:

Es ist so still und dunkel!
Verweht ist Blatt und Blüt,
Der Stern ist knisternd zerstoben,
Verklungen das Schwanenlied.

The rest is silence.