Maßgebendsein

There is no evidence for explicit vernacular poetics within the early 'Meistergesang' of the 14th and 15th century. While institutionally organised 'Meistersinger' created a normative literary genre by using tablatures, the poetology of the early anonymous 'Meistergesang' can only be deduced from the poetry itself. The normativity of poetological compositions rejects the idea of a notional standard. This abstract norm, which is versified in the poem or rather extracted from it, is replaced by the poem itself. The present study edits and analyses 'Bare', created between 1350 and 1520, that incorporate several forms of reflection such as poetical language, the idea of poets as craftsmen, artworks of versification, or content specific types of 'Lieder'. By proper editing, the study aims to render the early 'Meistergesang' more accessible, comprehensible, and applicable to categories. Moreover, the goal is to label the early 'Meistergesang' a distinct part of the 'Meistersinger' tradition. As a result, the study identifies generic, linguistic, and metaphoric features of the 'Meistergesang's' poetology.