Medieval Literature: Epics, Troubadours, and Dante
Nibelungen Legend
The Nibelungenlied is an epic poem from Germanic mythological traditions. It includes very old songs written between the 8th and 13th centuries in Iceland, Greenland, and Norway. The main themes revolve around Siegfried. The Nibelungenlied was written by a legendary Austrian gentleman between 1200 and 1205. It attempts to give unity and homogeneity for the court. It is characterized by simplicity of style, fine art, and religion, but with formal perfection unlike others. Siegfried is invulnerable. Kriemhild is achieved by getting King Gunther to marry Brunhild. Brunhild discovers this and kills Siegfried. Kriemhild marries Attila and seeks revenge.
Song of Roland
The Song of Roland is not a title. It is the oldest chanson de geste in France, written between 1087 and 1095. It features individualized characters. It is known for its simplicity and beautiful expressiveness, unadorned sentences that are short and sharp, precise vocabulary, and it avoids excessive figurative language. The language of the deed stands out. It presents a wonderful Christian idealization of historical facts. Roland is a symbol of courage, loyalty to the monarch, and religious spirit. The argument is that Charlemagne is deceived by a Moor and dies a traitor. His nephew Roland gets angry again, conquers France, and re-conquers Zaragoza, running the traitor out.
Lyrical Poetry
Meant to be sung, the first cult movement is the poetry of Provence.
Troubadour Lyric
Between 1100 and 1300, there was great linguistic homogeneity between the fiefdoms where it was practiced. There are 2540 poems by 350 troubadours copied in cancioneros. Troubadours were poets who also composed music. A notable troubadour is William of Aquitaine. The style is refined and difficult to follow. The measure of verses follows rigorous and complicated technical laws, with various poetic structures:
- Love: Tire-cuts, passionate expression of feelings, married women, keeps the passion of the poet, idealized lady, intrinsic and ingenious.
- Sirventes: Counter-themes, anger, repression, polemics, moralizing, personal attack.
- Sirventes Moral, Personal Sirventes, Political Sirventes, and Literary Sirventes
- Dawn: Describes the anger of lovers separated at dawn after spending the night together.
- Planh: Funeral lament, mourn the death of a friend and praise their virtues.
- Tense: Dialogued poems on diverse themes. They discuss adult themes.
- Other: Ballad and dance influenced by the carol.
Dolce Stil Novo
The theme of love is so new; free delivery is not imposed. The adulterous love of troubadour scenery is inherited but left to assume symbolic value in a different sense for the bourgeoisie. It unites women to the love of God (the perfection of the beloved is proof of divine power). It uses hendecasyllables and heptasyllables. The sonnet stands out. Guido Cavalcanti is notable for his thematic enrichment and exaltation of love in a technical, theoretical, and abstract way.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Born in Florence, Dante had much culture. He began writing at 18 and became a politician at 30. He was a prior of Florence (which was good), was exiled, and never returned. He worked as a diplomat and died in Ravenna in 1321.
Vita Nuova
Vita Nuova is written in prose with 31 inserted poems. It describes the encounter with his beloved Beatrice (idealized), a vision in a dream of Beatrice’s death, her real death, pain and praise, and consolation to another woman (he keeps faith at the end).
Il Convivio
Il Convivio deals with the theme of love (intellectual, metaphysical) and puts forth its own culture. It is a kind of free organization.
Divine Comedy
In the Divine Comedy, Dante is lost in the woods and is attacked by a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. He finds Virgil, who accompanies him to Hell, then to Heaven, where he sees Beatrice by God in three circles. It deals with poetic justice and harsh love in his opinion of allegorical God. The work is plastic, with awful drama, sweetness, and beauty. It is an epic-theological poem in three parts with chained triplets.