Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Heine's exact date of birth is not quite clear, but was most likely December 13, 1797 in the town of Düsseldorf. Which state did his birthplace belong to in 1797?
2. Heinrich Heine is not the name he was born with. Which was his original name, dropped on baptism in 1825?
3. After being a unsuccessful businessmen - despite help from his uncle - and after finishing his law studies in Berlin, he decided to work as a freelance author. His first poems were published in 1821. Widely known is one from 1824 about a beautiful woman causing shipwreck on the Rhine. What's her name?
4. Being outspoken and cynical in his writing, Heine soon clashed with the government censors. In 1833 Prussia and two years later the German Confederation banned all his works - past, present and future - from publication. Already in 1831 he had decided to leave Germany. Where did he choose to live?
5. Without being a Communist himself, Heine was on friendly terms with the founders of Communism, including Marx and Engels. One of his poems, published in 1844, was translated into English by Engels himself. What is the title of this poem?
6. In 1841 Heinrich Heine married his "good fat child", named by him Mathilde. When he met her in 1834 she was a shop-assistant. What was her real name?
7. In 1843 Heine published an epic poem, based on his travels to Germany the year before. The "viciously spiteful and outragous attack on Prussia and our distinguished monarch" - as the censor described it - is now a classic of German literature and is widely cited for the lines "If I think of Germany in the night/Then I can no longer sleep". What's the name?
8. In the year 1848 Heine suffered a physical breakdown. He himself thought that he had contracted syphillis earlier in his life, experts today think that it was more likely amyothrophic lateral sclerosis or multiple sclerosis. For how long did he suffer from this illness till he died?
9. The 'Lorelei' was forbidden in Germany between 1933-1945 because of its Jewish author.
10. It took some time until Düsseldorf decided to be proud of its greatest son. The named a street after him and, in 1988, an important institution. Which one?
Source: Author
Heidi66
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bloomsby before going online.
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