Old High German Poetry: An Anthology
By Brian Murdoch (Editor & Translator)
Description
- Although there is only a relatively small amount of poetry surviving in Old High German, what we have in this earliest stage of the written German language is both varied and fascinating. Beside the impressive heroic song of the battle between Hildebrand and his son, there are poetic presentations of the creation and of judgement day, a charm featuring major pagan deities (Wodan, Balder, Frigg), other intriguing and perhaps even effective charms and blessings, a poem about a victory over the Vikings, a saint’s life, and other material. Above all, there is the Gospel-poem of Otfrid, the first named German writer (about whom we know quite a lot), who decided to produce a lengthy and officially transmitted major work, not only in German -- rather than Latin -- but in rhymed verse, rather than the Germanic alliterative form. This was a watershed decision.
- This collection presents the surviving Old High German poetry, including a selection from Otfrid’s work, with line-for-line translations, but with the aim, too, of giving at least some idea of the poetic form in each case. Old High German is now studied very rarely outside Germany, and it is hoped that this anthology will give a picture of the emergence of a national written poetic tradition. It will also be of particular interest both as a comparison and as a contrast with early poetry in the other Germanic languages.
About the Authors
- BRIAN MURDOCH received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is Professor Emeritus of German at Stirling University in Scotland, where he taught for most of his career. He has held Visiting Fellowships at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Oriel College, Oxford. He has published numerous articles and books on medieval German and Latin literatures. His monographs include Old High German Literature (Twayne, 1983), The Germanic Hero (Hambledon, 1996), and Gregorius (Oxford University Press, 2012). As a literary translator, Murdoch’s works include Kudrun (Dent, 1987), All Quiet on the Western Front (Bodley Head, 1993), Three Political Tales from Medieval Germany (Boydell & Brewer, 2024), and Waltharius: The Latin Epic of Walther of Aquitaine (Uppsala Books, 2025).