Chapter XV: The Influence of Hebrew Literature on Heinrich Heine

It is curious to observe that Carlyle, who frequently writes with unqualified admiration of the literary genius of certain representatives of modern German literature, such as Goethe, Schiller, and Jean Paul Richter, makes only one brief reference to Heine. He there stigmatizes him with even more than his usual savagery, “blackguard.” The injustice of this obloquy has been amply proved by Heine's popularity on both sides of the Atlantic among English-speaking people.

A writer in the _Quarterly Review_, some years ago, in a lengthy article on Heine, said that his writings differed from other works of the same nature in their bizarre and grotesque style, as well as in the delightful humour with which they often overflow—a humour vividly reminiscent of Aristophanes. Heine, he goes on to say, who was a direct descendant of the prophets in mind and inspiration, somewhat resembled the two great seers of Israel—Isaiah and Ezekiel. Like them, he found in the use of strange metaphors and wonderful visions a ready means of appealing to the imagination of his readers. The present essay is an attempt to show that, in a spiritual sense, Heine really had something in common with some of the great authors of the Bible, whose peculiar style and beautiful diction he instinctively imitated.

The first and most important question that arises is naturally, Whether Heine had ever read the Bible or some parts of it in the original Hebrew, or whether he acquired his undoubtedly deep knowledge of it from a modern version? Two of the greatest authorities, Graetz and Karpeles, say that Heine was sent in his early days by his mother, Betty von Geldern, to a Jewish school, where he actually learned some Hebrew, together with various other subjects connected with the Jewish faith. However much or little it was, Heine retained a vivid recollection of it to the end, for in some of his later works are found some Hebrew quotations, which are mainly short phrases and sentences that occur in the Bible and in other Hebrew volumes of a more modern date^[166-1].

But it was not only during the time he was at the Jewish school at Düsseldorf that he had an opportunity of learning certain important things about Judaism and its literature. It is known that he was a keen member of a Jewish society that was formed at Berlin in 1822 for the promotion of the study and knowledge of Jewish history and literature; and through his intimate acquaintance with several of the members, such as Zunz, David Friedländer, Moser, and others, Heine learnt to appreciate the charm of these studies. He was enthusiastic in his praises of the Bible, and likewise found in the poetry of the great Jewish poets of the Middle Ages a perpetual source of delight. His knowledge of them was derived from Michael Sach's well-known volume, entitled _Die religiöse Poesie der Juden in Spanien_ (“Religious Poetry of the Jews in Spain”). Though his inability to read the writings of Jehuda Halevi, Ibn Gabirol, Moses and Meïr Ibn Ezra, and Alcharizi in the original prevented him from an entire appreciation of their merits, yet he speaks of them in his _Hebrew Melodies_ in terms of great admiration. Referring, for instance, to Alcharizi, he says that he was a Voltaire six hundred years before Voltaire lived; and of his special favourite Jehuda Halevi, he says that he was kissed at his birth by the Almighty, and that the sound of the kiss echoed in all his poems and songs.

There can be little doubt that his own works were influenced in no small degree by these illustrious predecessors, but it would seem that he was even more directly inspired by the Bible itself, and particularly by the lyric songs, which especially abound in the Book of Psalms and the Song of Songs. He refers to it more than once in eulogistic terms, but most characteristic are the following remarks^[167-1]: “I have to-day,” he writes, “again looked through the Old Testament. What a marvellous book it is! Its contents are wonderful, and so is its diction. Every word it contains is as natural as the growing tree, the smiling flower, the flowing ocean, the glittering star, and the living man. The Bible is divine and emanates from God, while all the other books in existence are but the poor products of feeble-minded mortals. The Bible is the drama of the human race, and may, moreover, be pronounced to be the book of books—_Biblia_. . . . The Jews ought, indeed, to console themselves for the loss of Jerusalem and the Temple, together with the Ark of the Covenant, and the precious jewels of King Solomon; such a loss is surely quite insignificant when compared with that indestructible treasure, the Bible, which they have luckily saved. . . . My admiration for it is extremely great.”

These were the views of Heine, the sceptic and the mocker, who said, for instance, of Judaism, that it was not a religion, but a misfortune. His early antipathy for his religion may not improbably have been due to the repellent effect, which the performance of a number of unattractive and to him meaningless rites would naturally cause to a man of his aesthetic sensibilities. But, as he grew older and more serious in disposition, he looked upon Judaism in a different light, and he changed his mockery into a hymn of praise and admiration. He was deeply impressed by the great antiquity of the Jewish race, which had bravely withstood the shocks of time, and continued to live and to endure in spite of the many obstacles and hostile influences to which it had been subjected. In his so-called “Confessions,” written when he was already advanced in years, he said that he felt proud of the fact that his ancestors had been members of the noble house of Israel, and that he was thus descended from those very martyrs, who had given to the world a God and an admirable code of ethics, for the sake of which they had often suffered and died.

Heine's knowledge of Hebrew was, as already stated, by no means so extensive as to make it credible that he had of himself been able to detect in the poetical portions of the Hebrew Bible certain beauties of form and diction, as well as many of the graceful irregularities which constitute a unique characteristic of their own. Yet he seems to have had a sort of instinctive feeling for them. That such singularities are also met with in many of Heine's lyric songs is a fact that will hardly be disputed, though it is uncertain whether they were really imitations of the Biblical ones or not. At all events, they possess many of the unique qualities which distinguish the poems in the Hebrew Bible. They are characterized by a certain peculiarity of rhythm, by their charming word-pictures, and by their changes from gaiety to melancholy, from sobriety to mirth. They have, moreover, supplied the theme for many of the charming compositions of musicians, like Schubert, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Schumann. Further, though they have been repeatedly translated into various languages by some of the most eminent scholars of the day, there is scarcely a single version which can be said to preserve a reproduction of the spirit of the original. The following two examples, which are English versions of a Hebrew and German lyric song respectively, may be considered sufficient to prove this. The Hebrew one occurs in the Song of Songs (viii. 6 and 7), and its English translation runs thus:—

Love is strong as death;
The passion thereof is hard as _Shéol_;
Its heat is the heat of fire,
A very flame of the Lord!

Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
He would utterly be despised^[169-1].

The second example is represented here by one of Heine's lyric songs, which in the original German runs as follows:—

Leise zieht, durch mein Gemüth
Liebliches Geläute;
Klinge, kleines Frühlingslied,
Kling' hinaus ins Weite.

Kling' hinaus, bis an das Haus,
Wo die Veilchen spriessen,
Und wenn du eine Rose schaust,
Sag', ich lass' sie grüssen.

_Translation._

Softly ring, and through me spring
The sweetest tones to-day;
Gently ring, small song of spring,
Ring out, and far away.

Ring and roam, into the home,
Where violets you see,
And when unto a rose you come,
Oh, greet that rose from me.

The translation is by Sir Theodore Martin, whose versions of many of Heine's poems and songs are generally considered to be specially good, but it cannot truly be said that in either of these two renderings is there much more than the pale reflection of the charm of the original.

Again, it will be found that in the Biblical lyric songs and those of Heine there is a striking community of sentiment, and more particularly in the idealization of womanhood or of one of its fairest representatives. The following translation (again by Sir Theodore Martin) of two songs of Heine may serve as examples:—