Abstract
The Carmina Burana have too easily fallen into stifling categories of interpretation, treating them as exclusively poems by students, by learned scholars, or by minstrels who demand our respect. In reality, as this paper illustrates, they represent a very dense corpus of songs in Latin and in a mixtures of Latin and Middle High German in which highly educated intellects reflect upon the wide range of everyday themes, interests, concerns, and desires common at that time, including sexuality, drinking, entertainment, and music. But at closer analysis we also discover a plethora of critical songs in which the loss of ethics, morality, and social norms both at court and in the church are sardonically attacked and ridiculed. Although the poets usually resort to the norms and models of ancient-classical and medieval courtly poetry, they regularly transgress those and present drastically opposite perspectives. In this process they also reveal the extent to which they actually closely interacted with vernacular literature. Laughter is often the name of the game, but it is not simply light and untroubled comic that finds expression here. This article demonstrates the extent to which the poets of the Carmina Burana actually interacted in a very intensive fashion with the learned literary traditions and the standard ideals of courtly love, undermining the common pretenses of a peaceful, harmonious, and honorable courtly society and of a reputable clergy.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 477-497 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Neophilologus |
| Volume | 94 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2010 |
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Keywords
- Carmina Burana
- Court criticism
- Drinking
- Eroticism
- Interaction with courtly literature
- Popular culture
- Sexual violence
- Social criticism
- Transgression
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory
Cite this
The Carmina Burana : A mirror of Latin and vernacular literary traditions from a cultural-historical perspective: Transgression is the name of the game. / Classen, Albrecht.
In: Neophilologus, Vol. 94, No. 3, 2010, p. 477-497.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Carmina Burana
T2 - A mirror of Latin and vernacular literary traditions from a cultural-historical perspective: Transgression is the name of the game
AU - Classen, Albrecht
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - The Carmina Burana have too easily fallen into stifling categories of interpretation, treating them as exclusively poems by students, by learned scholars, or by minstrels who demand our respect. In reality, as this paper illustrates, they represent a very dense corpus of songs in Latin and in a mixtures of Latin and Middle High German in which highly educated intellects reflect upon the wide range of everyday themes, interests, concerns, and desires common at that time, including sexuality, drinking, entertainment, and music. But at closer analysis we also discover a plethora of critical songs in which the loss of ethics, morality, and social norms both at court and in the church are sardonically attacked and ridiculed. Although the poets usually resort to the norms and models of ancient-classical and medieval courtly poetry, they regularly transgress those and present drastically opposite perspectives. In this process they also reveal the extent to which they actually closely interacted with vernacular literature. Laughter is often the name of the game, but it is not simply light and untroubled comic that finds expression here. This article demonstrates the extent to which the poets of the Carmina Burana actually interacted in a very intensive fashion with the learned literary traditions and the standard ideals of courtly love, undermining the common pretenses of a peaceful, harmonious, and honorable courtly society and of a reputable clergy.
AB - The Carmina Burana have too easily fallen into stifling categories of interpretation, treating them as exclusively poems by students, by learned scholars, or by minstrels who demand our respect. In reality, as this paper illustrates, they represent a very dense corpus of songs in Latin and in a mixtures of Latin and Middle High German in which highly educated intellects reflect upon the wide range of everyday themes, interests, concerns, and desires common at that time, including sexuality, drinking, entertainment, and music. But at closer analysis we also discover a plethora of critical songs in which the loss of ethics, morality, and social norms both at court and in the church are sardonically attacked and ridiculed. Although the poets usually resort to the norms and models of ancient-classical and medieval courtly poetry, they regularly transgress those and present drastically opposite perspectives. In this process they also reveal the extent to which they actually closely interacted with vernacular literature. Laughter is often the name of the game, but it is not simply light and untroubled comic that finds expression here. This article demonstrates the extent to which the poets of the Carmina Burana actually interacted in a very intensive fashion with the learned literary traditions and the standard ideals of courtly love, undermining the common pretenses of a peaceful, harmonious, and honorable courtly society and of a reputable clergy.
KW - Carmina Burana
KW - Court criticism
KW - Drinking
KW - Eroticism
KW - Interaction with courtly literature
KW - Popular culture
KW - Sexual violence
KW - Social criticism
KW - Transgression
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77954309180&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11061-009-9188-2
DO - 10.1007/s11061-009-9188-2
M3 - Article
VL - 94
SP - 477
EP - 497
JO - Neophilologus
JF - Neophilologus
SN - 0028-2677
IS - 3
ER -