Heinrich Heine is the greatest poet of the German language, but at the same time, he is also the most torn. His work is full of lightness and classicism, full of tenderness and hardness, full of clarity and wicked irony. He has transcended the poetry of Romanticism. He elevated the feuilleton, travel writing, and political pamphlets to literature, and brought the still-classically rhymed poem to the highest and most touching perfection. Many of his verses have been set to music. The collected works provide a cross-section through all genres.