He was a close friend of Karl Marx during his Parisian exile in 1843-1844, and it is quite likely that the radical socialist was influenced by both Heine's wit and his political views. Richard Wagner used motifs from two of Heine's works for his operas
Der fliegende Hollander (The Flying Dutchman, 1841) and
Tannhäuser (1843-1844). Friedrich Nietzsche admired him as one of the greatest poets of the century and considered him to be one of the superior German stylists of all times. And Sigmund Freud was obviously thoroughly acquainted with his writings; many of the illustrations he uses in
Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious (1905) are taken from Heine's works. With regard to his reputation, then, Heine has been a subject of considerable dispute. Hailed as a genial poet and innovative prose writer by some, he has been vilified as a flighty poetaster and traitor to the fatherland by others.
In fact, controversy entered into Heine's life from--and around--the very moment of his birth.
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