Which poets did Sisi admire? What scandal did the planned Heine monument in Düsseldorf cause? What was to happen to her collection of poems?
Poems played a central role in Elisabeth’s life ever since she was a young girl. Even as an adult, she wrote a lot of poetry and considered herself a “Heine disciple”. She knew many of Heine’s poems inside out and studied the life of the Romantic poet she most admired.
She was inspired by his way of writing poetry. Especially in difficult times, writing poetry was like therapy for her and she wrote a poetry diary. Heine is always and everywhere with me, every word, every letter that only appears in “Heine” is a jewel – Elisabeth in a letter to her daughter Marie Valerie. Her youngest daughter advised her to write a poetic diary, which was published in 1980. Sisi was very far-sighted. She decreed that the proceeds from the poetry book should go to asylum seekers and persecuted people, which is still being implemented today.
Here is an excerpt from her poems:
To the future souls – I walk lonely on this earth, To pleasure, to life, long since turned away; No companion shares my soul life, The soul never existed that understood me. (Poetic Diary p. 214)
“I am a seagull of no land,
I call no beach my home,
I am not bound by place or location;
I fly from wave to wave.”
Elisabeth’s admiration for Heinrich Heine even went so far that she thought he would appear to her in a dream and dictate the lines. She studied the life of Heinrich Heine, who lived from 1797 to 1856 , intensively. Heine was one of the most important German poets and writers of the 19th century. Because of his Jewish origins, he was treated with hostility in Germany and spent the second half of his life in exile in Paris.
The planned Heine monument in his home town of Düsseldorf caused quite a stir. Sisi contributed financially to the project and naturally wanted to pay tribute to her favorite poet. However, Heine had been a controversial poet due to his statements and anti-Semitic groups railed against him. Sisi withdrew from the project in 1889.
After all, it was not a statue of Heine that was erected, but a statue of the Loreley. Nobody could say anything against it. Just like in Heine’s poem about the Loreley, she is combing her golden hair. However, the statue is not in Düsseldorf but in the Bronx in New York. The sculptor was Ernst Herter, who also created the dying Achilles on Corfu and the Hermes in front of the Hermes Villa in Vienna.
In her private palace, the Achilleion, she had her own statue of Heine made, which stood in a temple in the garden. When her daughter Gisela sold the estate to the German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1907, he immediately had the statue removed. It came to France in a roundabout way and now stands in the Jardin de Mourillon in Toulon.
In addition to Heine, she also admired Homer and Shakespeare. Her favorite play was Shakespeare‘s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” . She saw herself as the fairy queen Titania and the unsuccessful suitors were portrayed as donkeys.
After the tragic suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf, Sisi gave up writing poetry.
Tip from Sisi’s Amazing Journey: To gain more insight into the Empress’s inner life, the poetic diary is highly recommended.
