Gottfried von Strassburg: Tristan - The Prologue or In Search of Gottfried's werlt of the edele herze

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, German
Cover of the book Gottfried von Strassburg: Tristan - The Prologue or In Search of Gottfried's werlt of the edele herze by Martin Stepanek, GRIN Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Martin Stepanek ISBN: 9783638162715
Publisher: GRIN Publishing Publication: January 9, 2003
Imprint: GRIN Publishing Language: English
Author: Martin Stepanek
ISBN: 9783638162715
Publisher: GRIN Publishing
Publication: January 9, 2003
Imprint: GRIN Publishing
Language: English

Essay from the year 1999 in the subject German Studies - Older German Literature, Medieval Studies, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (German Department), 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Despite two centuries of intensive literary research on Gottfried's `Tristan', the poem has remained one of the most discussed and controversial works of medieval literature. The poem has seen many researchers struggle with interpretations and many of the questions researchers came up with in the past proved to be hardly answerable. Especially the prologue to Tristan has remained very difficult to decipher. What was Gottfried trying to convey, when he addressed his poem to the world of the `edelen herzen' only? What was Gottfried's idea of an ideal life? And finally, in what way does the conception of his poem coincide with Aristotle's idea of catharsis? A closer look at the second part of the prologue (vv 45-244) and the literary discourse about it will hopefully throw some light on these questions, or, at least, provide the reader with some useful ideas about Gottfried's famous love poem. Indeed, to split the prologue into two parts, which (unfortunately?) was to be the starting point of my essay, is a very delicate matter. Considering formal aspects of the text, it seems justifiable to split the prologue into two parts as follows: a part one which consists of the first 44 lines written in four-line rhyming stanzas, and a part two which introduces a new pattern of rhymed couplets, beginning line 45. This way of splitting up the prologue has been the preferred one in the past, though some critics now regard it as out-dated and not very helpful. Dietz1 believes that the prologue has to be seen as a whole and therefore tends to prefer Schöne's2 suggestion to divide the prologue according to certain keywords, or, as he puts it `Hauptthemen', which seem to represent the central idea of each of his suggested parts. The `Hauptthemen' Schöne names are `guot' (vv 1-40), `werlt' (vv 41-76), `muoze' (vv 77-96), `sene' (vv 97-130), `liebe' (vv 174-221) and `leben' and `tot' (vv 222-244). Schöne chooses these key words according to their frequency of occurrence in the text. In all cases the stated keyword is the word which appears most frequently in the respective part and therefore depicts the central idea of it. Schöne's analysis of the prologue based on his suggested `Hauptthemen' is an interesting approach to do justice to the complexity of the prologue. In some respect, however, his choice of the different `Hauptthemen' may be questionable.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Essay from the year 1999 in the subject German Studies - Older German Literature, Medieval Studies, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (German Department), 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Despite two centuries of intensive literary research on Gottfried's `Tristan', the poem has remained one of the most discussed and controversial works of medieval literature. The poem has seen many researchers struggle with interpretations and many of the questions researchers came up with in the past proved to be hardly answerable. Especially the prologue to Tristan has remained very difficult to decipher. What was Gottfried trying to convey, when he addressed his poem to the world of the `edelen herzen' only? What was Gottfried's idea of an ideal life? And finally, in what way does the conception of his poem coincide with Aristotle's idea of catharsis? A closer look at the second part of the prologue (vv 45-244) and the literary discourse about it will hopefully throw some light on these questions, or, at least, provide the reader with some useful ideas about Gottfried's famous love poem. Indeed, to split the prologue into two parts, which (unfortunately?) was to be the starting point of my essay, is a very delicate matter. Considering formal aspects of the text, it seems justifiable to split the prologue into two parts as follows: a part one which consists of the first 44 lines written in four-line rhyming stanzas, and a part two which introduces a new pattern of rhymed couplets, beginning line 45. This way of splitting up the prologue has been the preferred one in the past, though some critics now regard it as out-dated and not very helpful. Dietz1 believes that the prologue has to be seen as a whole and therefore tends to prefer Schöne's2 suggestion to divide the prologue according to certain keywords, or, as he puts it `Hauptthemen', which seem to represent the central idea of each of his suggested parts. The `Hauptthemen' Schöne names are `guot' (vv 1-40), `werlt' (vv 41-76), `muoze' (vv 77-96), `sene' (vv 97-130), `liebe' (vv 174-221) and `leben' and `tot' (vv 222-244). Schöne chooses these key words according to their frequency of occurrence in the text. In all cases the stated keyword is the word which appears most frequently in the respective part and therefore depicts the central idea of it. Schöne's analysis of the prologue based on his suggested `Hauptthemen' is an interesting approach to do justice to the complexity of the prologue. In some respect, however, his choice of the different `Hauptthemen' may be questionable.

More books from GRIN Publishing

Cover of the book Die deutsche Chemieindustrie by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Analysis of William Wordsworth's 'Upon Westminster Bridge' by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Animals and their importance in the Bible by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Both Marx and Weber articulated theories of social change, and advanced explanations for the origin of capitalism. Who was right? Or can the two be synthesised? by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Digital Signal Processing using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Harry S. Truman - his foreign policy by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Antiauthoritarian representation of reality within two of Virginia Woolf's novels by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Multilingualism within Nation States and the Danger of Separation by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Work life balance - any improve for business? by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Presentation of the problem of racial and gender equality in Maya Angelou's poetry by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book Making History and Making it Over by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book The Poetry of Robert Burns and the Relationship of his Contemporaries to it by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book The Semantic Charging of Space in 'The Castle of Otranto' (Gothic Novel) by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book La 'Chiesa dell'Autostrada' di Giovanni Michelucci. Una lettura estetica. by Martin Stepanek
Cover of the book 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' An Interpretation of Sonnet Nr. 18 by William Shakespeare by Martin Stepanek
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy