 Initially it was thought he might be a "popular monarch" and during this honeymoon period of his early reign (1840–42) censorship was relaxed.This led to the emergence of popular political poets (so-called "Tendenzdichter"), including Hoffmann von Fallersleben (author of "Deutschlandlied", the German anthem), Ferdinand Freiligrath and Georg Herwegh.Heine looked down on these writers on aesthetic grounds – they were bad poets in his opinion – but his verse of the 1840s became more political too.