We may start from the last-mentioned poem with its epigrammatic point. It is characteristic of Heine that neither here nor elsewhere does he deeply concern himself with the true inwardness of a feeling; he only, as a rule, points and sharpens the expression of it. This is the case even with the feeling of love, which he has treated more frequently than any other. And it is characteristic of his want of the power to put himself in another's place, that it has only been possible for him to give expression to masculine love; he has never put a passionate utterance of feeling into the mouth of a woman. Nothing would have been more impossible for Heine than to write such a poem as Goethe's famous: "Freudvoll und leidvoll, Gedankenvoll sein, Langen und bangen In schwebender Pein, Himmelhoch jauchzend, Zum Tode betrübt, Glücklich allein Ist die Seele die liebt."[12] [12] Gladness And sadness And pensiveness blending; Yearning And burning In torment ne'er ending; Sad unto death, Proudly soaring above, Happy alone Is the soul that doth love. (BOWRING) For this is the living delineation of a woman's heart, this is the very inner life of love, its pulsation, its oscillation between bliss and woe. The epigrammatic quality of Heine's style alone would make such an unfolding of the emotional life impossible. And there is the same concentration when he narrates an event. It is a condensation without parallel in poetry; he produces his effect by making the briefest possible statement or suggestion. As an example of this take the lines: "Es war ein alter König, Sein Herz war schwer, sein Haupt war grau; Der arme, alte König Er nahm eine junge Frau. Es war ein schöner Page, Blond war sein Haupt, leicht war sein Sinn, Er trug die seid'ne Schleppe Der jungen Königin."[13] [13] There was an aged monarch, His heart was sad, his head was grey; This foolish, fond old monarch A young wife took one day. There was a handsome page, too, Fair was his hair and light his mien; The silken train he carried Of the beautiful young queen. Observe the telling effect of the inversion: "Blond war sein Haupt;" it is as if the verse began to rejoice and dance. Then comes the end: "Kennst du das alte Liedchen? Es klingt so süss, es klingt so trüb; Sie mussten beide sterben, Sie hatten sich viel zu lieb."[14] [14] Dost know the ancient ballad? It sounds so sweet, it sounds so sad: Both of them had to perish Too much love to each other they had. This is admirable. But we are not told the story; we only suspect it as we suspect the story of the slave and the sultan's daughter. And here again love is coupled with death.