Brich aus in lauten Klagen
    Du duestres Maertyrerlied,
    Das ich so lang getragen
    Im flammenstillen Gemuet!

    Es dringt in alle Ohren,
    Und durch die Ohren ins Herz;
    Ich habe gewaltig beschworen
    Den tausendjaehrigen Schmerz.

    Es weinen dir Grossen und Kleinen,
    Sogar die kalten Herrn,
    Die Frauen und Blumen weinen,
    Es weinen am Himmel die Stern.

It is not necessary, even if it were to the point, to adduce further evidence of Heine’s vanity as expressed in his prose writings, or in poems such as the much-quoted

    Nennt man die besten Namen,
    So wird auch der meine genannt.[247]

It cannot be denied that this element of vanity, of showiness, only serves to emphasize our impression of the unreality of much of Heine’s Weltschmerz.

With the reference to this element of ostentation in Heine’s Weltschmerz there is suggested at once the question of the Byronic pose, and of Byron’s influence in general upon the German poet.  On the general relationship between the two poets much has been written,[248] so that we may confine ourselves here to the consideration of certain points of resemblance in their Weltschmerz.

Julian Schmidt names Byron as the constellation which ruled the heavens during the period from the Napoleonic wars to the “Voelkerfruehling,” 1848, as the meteor upon which at that time the eyes of all Europe were fixed.  Certainly the English poet could not have wished for a more auspicious introduction and endorsation in Germany, if he had needed such, than that which was given him by Goethe himself, whose subsequent tribute in his Euphorion in the second part of “Faust” is one of Byron’s most splendid memorials.  The enthusiasm which Lord Byron aroused in Germany is attested by Goethe:  “Im Jahre 1816, also einige Jahre nach dem Erscheinen des ersten Gesanges des ‘Childe Harold,’ trat englische Poesie und Literatur vor allen andern in den Vordergrund.  Lord Byrons Gedichte, je mehr man sich mit den Eigenheiten dieses ausserordentlichen Geistes bekannt machte, gewannen immer groessere Teilnahme, so dass Maenner und Frauen, Maegdlein und Junggesellen fast aller Deutschheit und Nationalitaet zu vergessen schienen."[249]

It is important to note that this first period of unrestrained Byron enthusiasm coincides with the formative and impressionable years of Heine’s youth.  In his first book of poems, published in 1821, he included translations from Byron, in reviewing which Immermann pointed out[250] that while Heine’s poems showed a superficial resemblance to those of Byron, the temperament of the former was far removed from the sinister scorn of the English lord, that it was in fact much more cheerful and enamored of life.[251] There is plenty of evidence, however, to show that it was exceedingly gratifying to the young Heine to have his name associated with that of Byron;