Heinrich Von Veldeke - Lyric Poetry

Lyric Poetry

Some thirty romantic lyrics by Veldeke have been preserved. He is therefore one of the first generation of minnesangers that put the Roman courtly romantic poetry in a Germanic language. In comparison to his contemporaries, his lyrics stand out by their humour and even irony. He also likes to play with sounds and adapts the rhyme to his liking. Veldeke uses the conventional description of nature (Natureingang) to open his lyrics, and then usually parallels it – as in the example below – or contrasts it with the lover’s feelings:

Ez sint guotiu niuwe maere,

daz die vogel offenbaere

singent, dâ man bluomen siht.

zén zîten in dem jâre

stüende wol, daz man vrô waere,

leider des enbin ich niht:

Mîn tumbez herze mich verriet,

daz muoz unsanfte unde swaere

tragen daz leit, das mir beschiht. (MF I)

(It is good news that the birds sing out loud where one sees flowers. In this time of year, one ought to be happy, but alas, I am not: my foolish heart has betrayed me, and must now, sad and sombre, suffer the hardship that is imparted on me.)

In contrast to what he does in his Eneas Romance and his Servatius, he does not use neutral rhyme in his lyrics, as this technique limits the number of rhyme words available to the poet too drastically. Middle High German and Maaslandic rhymes are used indifferently. Undoubtebly this is because the rhyme scheme in the lyric has higher demands than the coupled rhyme in story texts such as the Servatius and the Eneas Romance; in one strophe, more than two rhyming words must be found. Veldekes lyrics have been preserved in three Middle High German manuscripts from the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century: the Kleine Heidelberger Liederenhandschrift (Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Codex Palatinus Germanicus 357), the Weingartner Liederhandschrift (de) (Stuttgart, Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Codex HB XIII 1) and the Groβe Heidelberger Liederenhandschrift, better known as the Codex Manesse (Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Codex Palatinus Germanicus 848).