The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-04-21
nElNE As A CRITIC.
Boston Transcrip,.l

sfttoas pufPosr. snak oI tutortnAHN me French nation of the true rise. quality
 and .' inwardnesss of German literature.
 It was composed fifty years ago. iu the
 heart of Paris. where Heine was living in
 political exile. and before he lay down upon the mat,ress-grave" on
 which the last seven years of his tortured
 life were spent. It requires a ssrong and
 educated imagination in an American
 reader. tha, he may prc)ec, himself back
 ward into the reality of this period. Bu, if any one can make history vital. Hcine
 IS surely the man. He is poet. and he ideal,scs like all of his
 kind: but he is not consumed by the
 flame of his worship. like Carlyle. He
 keeps cool head and steady hand.
 and his VI, Is all the more effective that it never makes it's author trcmble by it's recnll. He had contemporary. Byron.
 who equalled hun in rapid,,y cfthcugh,
 hut r,rcn's wit drags heavily by the side of Heine's. Moreover. kyrou is vind,e- tive but Hcine. never. He writes rather to express his convictions. and to release his surging intellectual life. than to dis charge envenomed judgments. IL re- mans perpetual wonder tha, Heine Is no; more domiciled as household god among Americans. fnglishmen may be forgiven for not reading him; for he has
 polished his vii to diamond brightness against the social oddities ot these sullen, hard and literal islanders. He has only
 here and there waited kiss of goodwill to Ameriea. He knew little ot us. In
 his day we were only halt civil,sed. and
 Heine loved civilization. Therefore he i.~f. civilized people in his day. So great was
 his appreciation of French refinement. that after his return to Paris from visi, among his grr.s eountymen. he allowed
 himself to be purposcly Jost!ed on the street, tha, he might revel in the enjoy ment of French apology Such al least,
 is h,s own half ironical testimony.
 Heine sorts out the German poets like so many skcins of oolored worsted. His Romantic School actually gncs hack to the foun,ain-head of German verse. in " N,cbclungen then with the sharpest of knives he carves elcanly through the
 i.esslng epoch ot instruction aeatn>,
 Trench models. throws in splendid cfitiduc ot Goethe aud Schiller. the two
 gods .; .crInan song and fiuaiiy t,,t,.t,t.t-- down upon the auiofNna,e Sehleeels.
 and thc weak taman,Isism winch they
 ;uaaEur.t,ed. Ills saf, asm almost de,ri- eps into severity when he nnds himself gfaspiag the collar of IA w : hlegcl
 The teeth oi the hapicss man chatter N l,h afft gin, A Heinc releases ham from the gentle snake: but an on-lookef secs that Il Y the play oi Il bsg doe with | iatle one: no harm IS intended. and the great ma<tfi is oi too noble nature ,o eseh
 wish ,o fnghteH ihc liitlc ncighbor. whose yclps have dissaybed him. lieIne could
 not forgive the Sehlegels for weakening the quality of German poesy. These ht- erary enthusiasts were eager to give di-
 rcciion to that poetic fire which had tlafned up under the stimulus of l.essIng,
 .aA s.h.eh they feared would tall .n,4 sci grooves. To ohsiate this. they pointed back to mcdi.,y alism. and to the folk songs. as the real sources oi poetic power liclne deems this a very .pIoas and oonsump,ivc" method oi Tcgcn- efaiIng Germany. When the patched and thirsty multitude heard ihis, he says. $ they did no, long delay. They were eager to be again young and bloom ing. and. hasiening to these mlra ulous ws,crs. quafied and gulped with inicm- sk V hgurc from he story oi t waiting maid. who natioed that her lady drank nom some tIny bottle an cilslr oi yuG.h. sigh ing for similar good fortune. she took deep. long traught. and found herself converted again into puIng babe. Sp was II. argues Heine. wi,h these romance loving Germans.
 His estimate of Goethe and Schiller .f. 4 | k- keencr. and possibly no Juster. cTiiitlsm of the two has ever been written. Eclne bun,ly oon.csses 'hai he vas envious of Goethe, unlike i'yron, who was sas. pee,eti of 4 gnawing diseon,en, d, shake l sI,eaFes superiority. but who never came 1 io the pom, of open confession. Hcsne | tells us ,ha, he had pondered Il, intervals l upon some suitable remark 10 make ou ! entering Goethc's presence bu, that ! when he At las, stood. before him, he could think and say nothing bu, tha, the { plums ong the road to WcinaI were cx- ccilcnt He seems quite AS glad oi < l joke q, hts osn expense as that of an- ' other Goethe vas contemporary wlih | the Sehlegels, and came In for share of thctf resefcnce: ba, he seems to haze l turned his back on them afterwards ! Probably ;hcsr reeipes fer rosaan'ieifng Germany were as nsuseaiing to them as ta iieine. The latter seems to have had bot the slightest personal con 1 taei wsih he older poe, fGaeshe was lust hisy Scats the senior of lIcine bur the latter had Al eye iha. could sec n inc dark. lie man tsiued. leo. that poeis deepest comics slons must always be soagh, in his Sorks. lie Alis the era of Go-shs's supremacy. l the f.oe;hean afi-perIod." To him aehl.er vas the more realistic poet. be- cz1se he threw himself Seli-sarr.fclngly into the struggles of the Fa,herl3nd. Ills dfarHas arc magnificent pleas for German freedom Goethe was as enthusiastic over Greek legend as over German his- tory. To him method was first, and pauer secondary. Hence, in Heine's language, he is zn indiferentiss.T 10 whom one thing was as divine ss another. fl t but suited hts au purpose. Schiller