Heinrich Heine and the German Language

Paper Summary:

Considering Heinrich Heine's work "Religion and Philosophy", this paper shows that Luther unleashed not only a true religious revolution in Germany, but that this was corroborated with and triggered in itself a literary revolution. The writer discusses Heine's belief that the new religion that Luther promoted in Germany had one substantial literary characteristic: it was German and in German, which meant that the Bible and service needed to be in German. The writer maintains that this was perhaps the foremost contribution Luther made to German literature and literary language, marking the beginning of literary manifestations in German language. The writer concludes that Heine's constant references throughout his book to the importance of Luther as a literary revolutionary show that the impact of his revolution by far left the simple sphere of politics or religion and laid the foundations of literary German.

From the Paper:

"Undoubtedly, Luther's religious revolution had enough force so as to propagate itself as a literary revolution as well. This was done in several ways, first of all by simply creating the use of German language as a mean of communication. In the 16th century, this is of utmost importance, as it subsequently gave way to the birth of the German nation in its respective European territory.
"However, even more than that, Luther actually produced literature, with his poems and songs and was a generous source of inspiration for his own contemporaries, but also for the German poets to come. It is no wonder that Heine, one of the greatest German poets of all, recognizes Luther as one of his own important predecessors and advices all writers that his language and the words he has introduced are there to stay and need to be used, as rejuvenating as they are."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Heine, Heinrich. The Prose of Heinrich Heine. Harvard University. 1887.
• From. http://www.geocities.com/av1611kingjames/. Last retrieved on October 23, 2007

More papers on Heinrich Heine and the German Language:

• Poem Review # 109015 : "Heinrich Heine and the Message of "The Loreley"
• Term Paper # 118660 : "Anglicisms in the German Language"
• Term Paper # 135209 : "Immigration and the German Immigrant"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: