Nibelungenlied

Sometimes referred to as the “German Iliad,” Nibelungenlied is a 13th-century German epic poem that combines historical events with German heroic legend. The epic’s poet is unknown—though some clues within the text suggest that he was from Passau, Germany. The epic, which literally translates to “The Song of the Nibelungs” in English, portrays the Burgundians’ historic defeat by the Huns in the 5th century—the tragic result of the mythical queen Kriemhild’s desire to avenge her late husband, Siegfried. This story existed in German oral tradition long before The Nibelungenlied, but the epic was the first to put it in writing. Moreover, academics believe that The Nibelungenlied was the first written German epic poem and that it catalyzed the birth of the genre as a whole. Despite its considerable influence on German literature, The Nibelungenlied faded into obscurity around 1500 and was rediscovered in 1755. It quickly became a German national epic and inspired Richard Wagner’s operatic cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (commonly known as the Ring cycle).

The Nibelungenlied was originally written in four-line stanzas in Middle High German. The first three lines of a stanza consist of three metrical feet, a caesura, and then three more metrical feet while the fourth and final line is even longer.