Heroic lay explained

The heroic lay (German Heldenlied) is a genre of Germanic epic poetry characteristic of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages. A lay is a short narrative poem of between 80 and 200 lines concerning a single heroic episode in the life of a warrior from Germanic legend. It is distinct from the heroic epic (Beowulf, Nibelungenlied) which combines a sequence of episodes into a longer narrative.

Examples

• Old High German
  • The Hildebrandslied
• Old Norse
  • Atlakviða
  • Hamðismál
• Old English
  • The Finnesburg Fragment

References

• Book: Gloning. Thomas. Young. Christopher. A History of the German Language Through Texts. 2004. Routledge. Abingdon, New York. 0415183316.
• Encyclopedia: Hatto . A.T. . Arthur Thomas Hatto. Hatto. A.T. . Arthur Thomas Hatto. Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry . Medieval German . 1980 . Modern Humanities Research Association. London . 1: The Traditions . 165–195. 0-900547-72-3. 8 January 2018.
• Book: Heusler. Andreas. Lied und Epos in germanischer Sagendichtung. 1905. Ruhfus. Dortmund. 9 January 2018.

Further reading

• Book: Fulk. R.D.. Cain. Christopher. A History of Old English Literature. 2013. Blackwell. Oxford. 978-1-118-45323-0. 2nd. Germanic Legend and Heroic Lay.
• Encyclopedia: Murdoch. Brian . Murdoch. Brian . German Literature of the Early Middle Ages . Heroic Verse . 1980 . Camden House. Woodbridge, Suffolk. 121–138. 1-57113-240-6.