onfined him to his "mattress grave," as he called his bed, from 1848 to his death in 1856. Nevertheless, some of his most notable works such as the volume of poetry Romanzero (1851), date from the last years of his life.Heine's personality was composed of sharply conflicting elements: a pagan joy of life and a feeling for Hebraic ethical values; a love of Romanticism and a hatred for the German Romantic writers of his time because of their subservience to reactionary political and religious forces; German patriotism and a humanitarianism that embraced the entire world; nominal Christianity and lifelong attachment to Judaism. These conflicts created in Heine the spirit of disillusionment, of mockery, and of biting satire that characterizes so much of his writing....
