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Document Details :

Title: Een streven naar kunst
Subtitle: Formele vernieuwingen in de Middelnederlandse literatuur omstreeks 1300
Author(s): VAN DRIEL, Joost
Journal: Spiegel der Letteren
Volume: 53    Issue: 1   Date: 2011   
Pages: 1-28
DOI: 10.2143/SDL.53.1.2071215

Abstract :
Formal experiments are relatively scarce in thirteenth century Middle Dutch literature, in contrast to Old French literature of the same period. However, several poets active in the decades around 1300 show a remarkable love for new literary forms. For example, in epic works one can experience the use of different rhyming schemes and complex formal repetitions. Also the popularity of strophic poetry, written by Jacob van Maerlant and his literary followers, indicates a desire to experiment with versification. Especially the compositions by Lodewijk van Velthem show a unique richness of strophic forms. This article discusses these formal developments chronologically and places them in a broader literary context, starting with thirteenth century epic poetry and ending with the fourteenth century Spiegel der wijsheid by Jan Praet, a work in which all kinds of verse forms are used.

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