What was Heine's central theory or idea?
My central idea is that art and life are governed by a dialectical tension between the sensual and the spiritual, the real and the ideal. I called this the 'emancipation of the senses'—a liberation from oppressive dogmas, whether religious, political, or aesthetic. In my essays, I argued that poetry must not retreat into pure fantasy but engage with the material world, exposing its ironies. This is why I mocked both the naive Romantics who ignored reality and the rigid rationalists who denied imagination. The goal is to reconcile flesh and spirit, laughter and sorrow, in a dynamic, ever-shifting balance.
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