"When springtime comes, the sun and showers bring out a host of dancing flowers" (1-2) and "The stars begin to twinkle too" (4) paint a picture that all is right in the world. At the end of the poem, his last lines, "However popular such stuff It's never really quite enough" (9-10) turns this picture upside down. The poem quickly turns to despair. The words "never really" (10) are used to show total hopelessness. Heine questions what is the purpose and meaning of life and finds none. A life without meaning or hope is not worth living and man cannot escape this life. This is total and complete despair.
Another poem, "A Young Man Loves a Maiden" (616), tells a story of despair over love that is not returned. A young man loves a woman who loves another. When the man she loves marries another, she marries another man she does not love out of anger and breaks the heart of the first man who loved her. .
It is so old a story.
Yet somehow always new;.
And he has just lived it.
It breaks his heart in two. (9-12).
The despair in this poem is more than just that of the young man who loved the maiden. By calling it an old story that is always new, Heine says it will repeat itself over and over throughout the life of many men. It is the nature of love and life that no matter what man does, he is doomed to repeat this heartbreak.
The final poem by Heine is different from the others. The poem, "The Silesian Weavers" (617) was written to comment on the working conditions of weavers in Germany. Every verse paints a picture of despair. He writes; "In somber eyes no tears of grieving; Grinding their teeth, they sit there weaving" (1-2). I think this shows so much despair. Crying does not help and all they can do is keep working. Despair is so great that in the second verse, they curse their god. He writes; "A curse on the god we pray to kneeling" (6).