Profile
Heinrich Heine: Romantic Poet and Fearless Satirist
German poet and journalist, born in Düsseldorf on 13 December 1797
Born into a Jewish family in Düsseldorf on 13 December 1797, Heine tried banking and law first. He soon gave them up to devote himself to writing.
His Book of Songs (1827) made him famous, and poems from it were turned into much-loved songs by Schubert and Schumann. His travel writing, mixing humour and politics, was hugely popular but often clashed with censors.
In 1831 he moved to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life writing about France for German readers and Germany for French ones. In his final years he was confined to bed by illness, but he kept writing poetry until his death in 1856.
Career highlights
- 1797Born in Düsseldorf: into a Jewish family
- 1821First poems published: in Berlin
- 1826Travel Pictures: witty travel writing begins
- 1827Book of Songs: his celebrated collection of love poetry
- 1831Moves to Paris: living there for the rest of his life
- 1844Germany: A Winter's Tale: satirical verse epic
- 1848Illness confines him to bed: he calls it his 'mattress grave'
- 1856Dies in Paris: buried in Montmartre Cemetery
Did you know?He called the bed he was confined to in his last years his 'mattress grave', yet produced some of his finest poems there.
