{"id":1928,"date":"2015-11-05T04:02:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T04:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mytwostotinki.com\/?p=1928"},"modified":"2015-11-05T04:02:48","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T04:02:48","slug":"under-the-linden-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mytwostotinki.com\/?p=1928","title":{"rendered":"Under the Linden Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"literatur_2015_gold-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This blog post is part of the German Literature Month, hosted by Lizzie (Lizzies Literary Life<\/a>)\u00a0and Caroline (Beauty is a Sleeping Cat<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Very little is known about the life of Walther von der Vogelweide, the most remarkable German poet before Goethe; neither the birthplace of this troubadour (Minnesinger<\/em>)\u00a0– probably in Austria, but maybe also in Northern Italy –\u00a0 nor his exact years of birth (ca. 1170) and death (ca. 1230) are known. He was obviously the loyal servant of a bishop and was rewarded with an amount of money sufficient for an expensive fur coat once \u2013 the only official mentioning of his name in the records and proof of his comparatively elevated social status.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walther\u2019s poetry is written in Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch<\/em>) which is surprisingly intelligible to modern-day native speakers \u2013 especially when you are from Southern Germany or Austria. It covers a number of topics and genres but his love poetry features most prominently. While a big part of it worships an aristocratic, married and therefore inaccessible frouwe<\/em> from a distance, Walther\u2019s poetry also covers other, to us modern readers more familiar grounds that make his charming poems still very fresh and appealing until this day. I am therefore recommending his works to anyone with a genuine interest in German literature.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the following Taglied<\/em> the poet lends his voice to a girl after her spending a night with her lover (most probably a man of higher social status).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under der linden<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under der linden<\/strong><\/em>
\n an der heide,<\/strong><\/em>
\n d\u00e2 unser zweier bette was,<\/strong><\/em>
\n d\u00e2 muget ir vinden<\/strong><\/em>
\n sch\u00f4ne beide<\/strong><\/em>
\n gebrochen bluomen unde gras.<\/strong><\/em>
\n Vor dem walde in einem tal,<\/strong><\/em>
\n tandaradei,<\/strong><\/em>
\n sch\u00f4ne sanc diu nahtegal.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ich kam gegangen<\/strong><\/em>
\n zuo der ouwe: <\/strong><\/em>
\n d\u00f4 was m\u00een friedel komen \u00ea.<\/strong><\/em>
\n D\u00e2 wart ich empfangen<\/strong><\/em>
\n (h\u00eare frouwe!)<\/strong><\/em>
\n daz ich bin s\u00e6lic iemer m\u00ea.<\/strong><\/em>
\n Kust er mich? <\/strong><\/em>
\n Wol t\u00fbsentstunt: <\/strong><\/em>
\n tandaradei,<\/strong><\/em>
\n seht wie r\u00f4t mir ist der munt.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

D\u00f4 hete er gemachet<\/strong><\/em>
\n als\u00f4 r\u00eeche<\/strong><\/em>
\n von bluomen eine bettestat.<\/strong><\/em>
\n Des wirt noch gelachet<\/strong><\/em>
\n innecl\u00eeche,<\/strong><\/em>
\n kumt iemen an daz selbe pfat:<\/strong><\/em>
\n b\u00ee den r\u00f4sen er wol mac,<\/strong><\/em>
\n tandaradei,<\/strong><\/em>
\n merken w\u00e2 mir’z houbet lac.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Daz er b\u00ee mir l\u00e6ge,<\/strong><\/em>
\n wesse’z iemen<\/strong><\/em>
\n (nu enwelle got!), so schamte ich mich.<\/strong><\/em>
\n Wes er mit mir pfl\u00e6ge,<\/strong><\/em>
\n niemer niemen<\/strong><\/em>
\n bevinde daz, wan er und ich,<\/strong><\/em>
\n und ein kleinez vogell\u00een:<\/strong><\/em>
\n tandaradei, <\/strong><\/em>
\n daz mac wol getriuwe s\u00een.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Under the linden tree<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the linden tree<\/strong>
\non the heather,<\/strong>
\nwhere we shared a bed<\/strong>
\nthere you may find<\/strong>
\nlovely together<\/strong>
\nbroken flowers and grass.<\/strong>
\nNear a forest in a vale,<\/strong>
\ntandaradei,<\/strong>
\nbeautifully sang the nightingale.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I came to meet him<\/strong>
\nat the green:<\/strong>
\nthere was my beloved come before.<\/strong>
\n Such was I received<\/strong>
\n (Queen of Heaven!)<\/strong>
\n that I am blessed for evermore.<\/strong>
\n Did he kiss me?<\/strong>
\nPerhaps a thousand times and some:<\/strong>
\n tandaradei, <\/strong>
\n see how red my mouth has become.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There he had been making<\/strong>
\n for luxury <\/strong>
\n a bed from every kind of flower.<\/strong>
\n It sets to laughing <\/strong>
\n delightedly<\/strong>
\n whoever comes upon that bower;<\/strong>
\n by the roses well one may,<\/strong>
\n tandaradei, <\/strong>
\n mark the spot my head once lay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If someone knew<\/strong>
\n he lay with me <\/strong>
\n (may God forbid!), for shame I’d die.<\/strong>
\n What did he do?<\/strong>
\n may none but he<\/strong>
\n ever be sure of that \u2014 and I,<\/strong>
\n and one tiny bird,<\/strong>
\n tandaradei, <\/strong>
\n that may well not say a word.<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Translation by Thomas H\u00fcbner, after Graeme Dunphy)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Walther<\/a><\/p>\n

For those who read German, I can recommend the edition of Walther\u2019s poetry in the legendary Reclam Universal Edition (bi-lingual, High German\/Middle High German), Stuttgart 2013 (\u201cGedichte \u2013 Auswahl\u201d); there is an English edition \u201cSelected Poems of Walther von der Vogelweide: The Minnesinger\u201d, translated by Walter Alison Phillips in 1896 and republished by Cornell University Library in 2009; another more modern translation of the poem in English can be found in Raymond Oliver\u2019s \u201cTo Be Plain: Translations from Greek, Latin, French, and German\u201d, Robert L. Barth, 1981<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Thomas H\u00fcbner\u00a0and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and\/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog\u2019s author and\/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas H\u00fcbner\u00a0and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.<\/strong><\/pre>\n
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