Part 28 (1/2)

Next in order come the philosophic epics of Wolfram von Eschenbach, including the immortal Parzifal--which has been used by Tennyson and Wagner in their poems and opera--and the poetic tales of Gottfried of Stra.s.sburg, whose Tristan und Isolde, though unfinished, is a fine piece of work. Hartmann von der Aue is author of Erek und Enide,--the subject of Tennyson's poem,--of Der arme Heinrich,--which served as foundation for Longfellow's Golden Legend,--and of Iwein or the Knight with the Lion.

Among the Minnesingers of greatest note are Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and later, when their head-quarters were at Nuremberg, Hans Sachs. Their favorite themes were court epics, dealing especially with the legends of Arthur, of the Holy Grail, and of Charles the Great. Many of these epics are embodied in the Heldenbuch, or Book of Heroes, compiled in the fifteenth century by Kaspar von der Rhon, while the Abenteuerbuch contains many of these legends as well as Der Rosengarten and Konig Laurin.

In the second part of the thirteenth century artificiality and vulgarity began to preponderate, provoking as counterweights didactic works such as Der Krieg auf der Wartburg. The fourteenth century saw the rise of the free cities, literary guilds, and five universities.

It also marks the cultivation of political satire in such works as Reinecke Fuchs, and of narrative prose chronicles like the Luneburger, Alsatian, and Thuringian Chronicles, which are sometimes termed prose epics. The Volksbucher also date from this time, and have preserved for us many tales which would otherwise have been lost, such as the legends of the Wandering Jew and Dr. Faustus.

The age of Reformation proved too serious for poets to indulge in any epics save new versions of Reinecke Fuchs and Der Froschmeuseler, and after the Thirty Years' War the first poem of this cla.s.s really worthy of mention is Klopstock's Messias, or epic in twenty books on the life and mission of Christ and the fulfilment of the task for which he was foreordained.

Contemporary with Klopstock are many noted writers, who distinguished themselves in what is known as the cla.s.sic period of German literature. This begins with Goethe's return from Italy, when he, with Schiller's aid, formed a cla.s.sical school of literature in Germany.

While Schiller has given us the immortal epic drama ”William Tell,”

Goethe produced the idyllic epic ”Hermann und Dorothea,” the dramatical epic ”Faust,” and an inimitable version of the animal epic ”Reinecke Fuchs.”

Wieland also was a prolific writer in many fields; inspired by the Arabian Nights, Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Huon de Bordeaux, [27] he composed an allegorical epic ent.i.tled ”Oberon,”

wherein ”picture after picture is unfolded to his readers,” and which has since served as a theme for musicians and painters.

Since Goethe's day Wagner has made the greatest and most picturesque use of the old German epic material, for the themes of nearly all his operas are drawn from this source.[28]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 24: See the author's ”Legends of the Rhine.”]

[Footnote 25: See the author's ”Legends of the Middle Ages.”]

[Footnote 26: Detailed accounts of ”Gudrun” and several other of these subordinate epics can be found in the author's ”Legends of the Middle Ages.”]

[Footnote 27: See the author's ”Legends of the Middle Ages.”]

[Footnote 28: See the author's ”Stories of the Wagner Operas.”]

THE NIBELUNGENLIED[29]

The Nibelungenlied, or Song of the Nibelungs, was written about the beginning of the thirteenth century although it relates events dating back to the sixth or seventh. Some authorities claim it consists of twenty songs of various dates and origin, others that it is the work of a single author. The latter ascribe the poem to Conrad von Kurenberg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, or Walther von der Vogelweide. The poem is divided into thirty-nine ”adventures,” and contains two thousand four hundred and fifty-nine stanzas of four lines each. The action covers a period of about thirty years and is based on materials taken from the Frankish, Burgundian, Austro-Gothic, and Hunnish saga cycles.

Dietrich von Bern, one of the characters, is supposed to be Theodoric of Italy, while Etzel has been identified with Attila the Hun, and the Gunther with a king of the Burgundians who was destroyed with all his followers by the Huns in 436.

_1st Adventure._ Three Burgundian princes dwell at Worms on the Rhine, where, at the time when the poem opens their sister Kriemhild is favored by a vision wherein two eagles pursue a falcon and tear it to pieces when it seeks refuge on her breast.

A dream was dreamt by Kriemhild the virtuous and the gay, How a wild young falcon she train'd for many a day, Till two fierce eagles tore it; to her there could not be In all the world such sorrow as this perforce to see.[30]

Knowing her mother expert at interpreting dreams, Kriemhild inquires what this means, only to learn that her future spouse will be attacked by grim foes. This note of tragedy, heard already in the very beginning of the poem, is repeated at intervals until it seems like the reiterated tolling of a funeral bell. _2d Adventure._ The poem now transfers us to Xanten on the Rhine, where King Siegmund and his wife hold a tournament for the coming of age of their only son Siegfried, who distinguishes himself greatly and in whose behalf his mother lavishes rich gifts upon all present.

The gorgeous feast it lasted till the seventh day was o'er; Siegelind the wealthy did as they did of yore; She won for valiant Siegfried the hearts of young and old When for his sake among them she shower'd the ruddy gold.

_3d Adventure._ Hearing of the beauty of Kriemhild, Siegfried decides to go and woo her, taking with him only a troop of eleven men. His arrival at Worms causes a sensation, and Hagen of Tronje--a cousin of King Gunther--informs his master that this visitor once distinguished himself by slaying a dragon and that he is owner of the vast Nibelungen h.o.a.rd. This treasure once belonged to two brothers, who implored Siegfried to divide it between them, a task he undertook in exchange for the sword--Balmung--which lay on top of the heap of gold.

But no sooner had he made the division than the brothers mortally wounded each other and died on their heaps of gold, leaving their treasure to Siegfried, who thus became the richest man in the world.

On hearing the new-comer announce he has come to challenge Gunther to a duel, the Burgundians are dismayed, but they soon succeed in disarming their guest, and finally persuade him to remain with them a year, entertaining him with games and tournaments in which Siegfried distinguished himself greatly, to the satisfaction of Kriemhild who witnesses his prowess through a latticed window.

_4th Adventure._ Toward the end of Siegfried's visit, it is reported that the kings of Saxony and Denmark are advancing with four thousand men. The dismay of the Burgundians is such that Siegfried proposes to go forth and overpower the enemy with a force of merely one thousand men. Only too glad to accept this offer, Gunther allows Siegfried to depart, and is overjoyed when the young hero comes back with two prisoner monarchs in his train. The messenger who announces Siegfried's triumph is, moreover, richly rewarded by Kriemhild, who flushes with pleasure on hearing the praise bestowed upon her hero.