Didactic Poetry

Summary

IT IS POSSIBLE TO ARGUE THAT almost all medieval poetry is didactic. Even authors of works such as courtly romances or other essentially secular narratives sought to provide not only amusement, excitement or aesthetic stimulation, but also instruction, edification, and moral improvement. Moreover, most creators and recipients of medieval literature would probably have seen no contradiction between the twin aims of teaching and entertaining, but would have regarded the two as ultimately indivisible.

Within this broad consensus, however, there was ample room for differences of priority and approach. In many works, the didactic element seems, to the modern reader at least, to be decidedly limited, or at least subordinated to a desire to divert and titillate. For other poets again (one thinks of Gottfried von Neifen [fl. ca. 1235–55] and Ulrich von Winterstetten [fl. ca. 1241–80]), the communication of an edifying message appears to have been less important than sophisticated experimentation with language and form. Moreover, many medieval authors (such as those of the great romances), while obviously concerned to educate, challenge, or influence their audiences, tended to do so using subtle, indirect means — such as imagery, structural patterns, the actions and dialogue of characters, and occasional narratorial comments.

All these approaches to literature can be legitimately differentiated from that adopted by the works to be discussed in this chapter. These works have in common — apart from their use of verse form — a clear didactic purport, the communication of which seems to have been their authors' primary objective; and they address their audience in a more or less direct way, often employing techniques such as unequivocal assertion, explanation, exhortation, or admonition.