ems of this
period may be easily classed according to the degree of this subjection
or influence. There can be no discussion here of lyrical and dramatic
poems, for the latter did not exist, and the former are as like in every
age as are the songs of nightingales in spring.

Although the epic poetry of the Middle Ages was divided into sacred and
profane, both were altogether Christian according to their kind; for if
sacred poesy sang of the Jewish race and its history, the only race
which was regarded as holy, or of the heroes and legends of the Old and
New Testaments, and, in brief, the Church--still all the life of the
time was reflected in profane poetry with its Christian views and
action. The flower of the religious poetic art in the German Middle Ages
is perhaps _Barlaam and Josaphat_, in which the doctrine of abnegation,
of abstinence, and the denial and contempt of all worldly glory, is set
forth most consistently. Next to this I would class the _The Eulogium of
St. Hanno (Lobgesang auf den heiligen Anno)_ as the best of the
religious kind; but this is of a far more secular character, differing
from the first as the portrait of a Byzantine saint differs from an old
German one. As in those Byzantine pictures, so we see in _Barlaam and
Josaphat_ the utmost simplicity; there is no perspective side-work, and
the long, lean, statue-like forms and the idealistic serious faces come
out strongly drawn, as if from a mellow gold ground. On the other hand,
in the song of praise of St. Hanno, the side-work or accessories are
almost the subject, and, notwithstanding the grandeur of the plan, the
details are treated in the minutest manner, so that we know not whether
to admire in it the conception of a giant or the patience of a dwarf.
But the evangel-poem of Ottfried, which is generally praised as the
masterpiece of sacred poetry, is far less admirable than the two which I
have mentioned.

In profane poetry we find, as I have already signified, first the cycle
of sagas of the _Nibelungen_ and the _Heldenbuch_, or _Book of Heroes_.
In them prevails all the pre-Christian manner of thought and of feeling;
in them rude strength has not as yet been softened by chivalry. There
the stern Kempe-warriors of the North stand like stone images, and the
gentle gleam and the more refined breath of Christianity have not as yet
penetrated their iron armor. But little by little a light dawns in the
old Teutonic forest; the ancient idolatrou