In Goethe's case all the words are images, and this is the reason why he requires to employ so little imagery. In Heine's the words are constantly allegories, devoid of perspicuity and of that inward connection which is the logic of poetry. Take as an instance: "Aus meinen Thränen spriessen--vie' blühende Blumen hervor,"[1] where by flowers poems are meant; or: "Sprüh'n einmal vert dächt'ge Funken--aus den Rosen, sorge nie--diese Welt glaubt nicht an Flammen--und sie nimmt's für Poesie,"[2] where we are presented with a skein of images more entangled than those of the notorious old Scandinavian transcriptions of the decadent period in Skaldic poetry--sparks struck out of roses; sparks, which the everyday world will not accept as fire; rose sparks, which are called poetry! [1] Up from my tears are growing Fair flowers in many vales. (LELAND) [2] If suspicious sparks should issue From the roses--fearless be! This dull world in flames believes not, But believes them poetry. (BOWRING) What one objects to most in these poems with their allegorical rhetoric is the combination of sentimentality and materialism. Sighs and tears are talked of as if sighs were very loud breaths and tears very tangible substances. We have, for instance: "Und meine Seufzer werden--ein Nachtigallenchor" (And from my sighs go flying, A choir of nightingales), still further materialised by the addition of: "Und vor deinem Fenster soll singen--das Lied der Nachtigall" (And the nightingales at thy window, Shall sing all the summer hours). A still more striking instance is to be found in the typical poem of the lonely tear:-- "Was will die einsame Thräne? Sie trübt mir ja den Blick, Sie blieb aus alten Zeiten In meinem Auge zurück."[3] [3] What means this lonely tear-drop Which dims mine eye to-day? It is the last now left me Where once so many lay. We are initiated into this particular tear's family history and present lonely situation; it had many bright sisters, who now are no more, so that it is left solitary in its eyecorner. It is addressed much as one would address any good old comrade, told to go its way, now that all the others have gone:-- "Du alte, einsame Thräne, Zerfliesse jetzunder auch!"[4] [4] Thou tear-drop old and lonely, Do thou, too, pass away! The sentimentality is so crude that no parody could be more comic than this mournful apostrophe, which the arch-scoffer wrote in all good faith. Every defect in the artist as a man, comes out in his art. It is always a want of simplicity, of genuine feeling, that produces the sentimental or ostentatious or clap-trap expression. Heine's shortcomings in this way are strongly felt when we compare certain outbursts of his with Goethe's expression of similar feelings.