9781787352223
9781787352230
A study of beard motifs in medieval German poetry.
Beards make frequent appearances in medieval German poetry—as esteemed markers of majestic wisdom or as hilarious props for undignified manhandling. In Beards and Texts, Sebastian Coxon traces this preeminent symbol of masculinity through four major poetic traditions across the twelfth and sixteenth centuries—Pfaffe Konrad’s Rolandslied, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Willehalm, ‘Sangspruchdichtung’, and Heinrich Wittenwiler’s Ring. By attending to this hairy trope, Beards and Texts sheds new light on the construction of both poetic form and masculinity in the Middle Ages.
Beards make frequent appearances in medieval German poetry—as esteemed markers of majestic wisdom or as hilarious props for undignified manhandling. In Beards and Texts, Sebastian Coxon traces this preeminent symbol of masculinity through four major poetic traditions across the twelfth and sixteenth centuries—Pfaffe Konrad’s Rolandslied, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Willehalm, ‘Sangspruchdichtung’, and Heinrich Wittenwiler’s Ring. By attending to this hairy trope, Beards and Texts sheds new light on the construction of both poetic form and masculinity in the Middle Ages.
234 pages | 17 color plates | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2021
Literature and Literary Criticism: Germanic Languages
Table of Contents
List of figures List of abbreviations 1. Beards and texts, texts and beards 2. Beards and majesty: Pfaffe Konrad’s Rolandslied 3. Beards and humanity: Wolfram’s Willehalm 4. Beards, teaching and learning: ‘Sangspruchdichtung’ 5. Beards and laughter: Wittenwiler’s Ring 6. Jesus’s beard Conclusion Appendix: A sample of references to Charlemagne’s beard Bibliography Index