Buch der Lieder

Heine, Heinrich, 1797-1856Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.2

Word count: 190K words
Chapters: 19

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Buch der Lieder by Heinrich HeineAuthor: Heine, Heinrich, 1797-1856,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Oct 1, 2002

Editor's review

Buch der Lieder is a representative collection of Heine's early lyric poetry and one of the most widely circulated works in German poetry. The poems gathered here have clear, graceful language and flowing rhythm; they contain romantic natural imagery and laments of love while also carrying irony and melancholy, revealing Heine's distinctive voice in which sweetness and sharpness coexist. Many poems were later set to music as art songs by composers such as Schumann and Schubert, giving the collection significance in music history as well as literature. This edition is a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook in the original German, suitable as an introduction to German poetry and as reading-aloud material. There is no need to finish it in one sitting; read slowly in the order of the poem cycles and pay attention to rhythm and rhyme. If you know music, listen alongside the art songs for a fuller sense of how poetry and music combine. Readers unfamiliar with German should read with a reliable translation at hand.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers learning German who want to encounter poetry in the original
Readers who love Romantic poetry and art songs
Beginners studying Heine's early work and German lyric poetry
Language teachers who need German poetry for reading aloud

Not a good fit for

Readers with no German who do not plan to use a parallel translation
Readers seeking Heine's later political and satirical works
Advanced researchers who need detailed annotations and scholarly introductions

Reading tips

Read three to five poems a day in the order of the cycles, reading aloud first and then working out the meaning.
Listen alongside art-song settings by Schumann and other composers to feel the relationship between poetry and music.
If you do not know German, keep a reliable Chinese translation open for parallel reading.
Mark recurring images and the ironic tone, then review the overall structure after finishing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in the original German or a Chinese translation?

This edition is a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook with the main text in the original German and no Chinese translation. Chinese readers may pair it with a reliable translation for parallel reading.

Can I read this book without any German?

You can start with a bilingual edition or translation, but reading the original directly requires some German. It is best to learn about Heine's life and the Romantic background first, then read poem by poem in parallel.

Why is this collection said to be closely tied to music?

Many poems in the collection were set as art songs by composers such as Schumann and Schubert and circulated widely. Listening to the related songs while reading gives a more direct sense of their rhythm and emotion.

Comments

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About the author

Heine, Heinrich, 1797-1856 Author

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) was a German poet and writer. Sixteen of his works are held in this collection, including The Poems of Heine: Complete, Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen, Die Harzreise, Buch der Lieder, Romanzero, Franse Toestanden, Atta Troll, and The Prose Writings of Heinrich Heine. Because public information is limited, details of his life are omitted here; his works nonetheless show him to be a master of lyric poetry, travel writing, and satirical verse. His language is clear and musical, while his narratives blend social observation with a critical edge. Poems from Buch der Lieder have been widely set to music, and Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen presents his reflections on reality in a sharp, incisive style. Spanning poetry and prose, his writing has had a lasting influence on German literature and continues to be translated and read in the Chinese-speaking world.