A16877W1

SECOND PUBLIC EXAMINATION

Honour School of Modern Languages

GERMAN VI

BEGINNINGS OF WRITING TO 1550:

TEXTS, CONTEXTS AND ISSUES

TRINITY TERM 2020

Tuesday, 2nd June

Opening time: 2.30 p.m. (BST)

You have 4 hours to complete the paper and upload your answer file

Candidates must answer TWO questions.

Candidates must NOT make ANY ONE writer or work the principal subject of MORE
THAN ONE ANSWER.

Candidates must NOT answer questions with reference wholly or chiefly to works
they were offering as Early Texts prescribed for study as examples of literature, or
which form the principal topic of their Special Subject or Extended Essay.

Candidates offering Wolfram’s Parzival in Paper IX are not debarred from writing
on other works by Wolfram in Paper VI.

Candidates may NOT make material prescribed for the Preliminary Examination the
sole or principal subject of ANY of their answers.

You should list any books AND/OR online sources you have consulted at the end
of your work.

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 1. ‛Gender Studies und Gewaltforschung gehören in der Mediävistik notwendigerweise
zusammen’ (ELISABETH LIENERT). Discuss, with reference to ONE OR MORE works from
the period.

2. Discuss with reference to ANY ONE work OR group of works to what extent medieval literature
is shaped by orality.

3. Discuss the significance of gifts and giving within the social structure of ANY ONE work from
the period?

4. Discuss the importance of ONE OR MORE books of the Bible for ONE OR MORE works of
medieval German literature.

5. Discuss, with reference to ONE OR MORE works from the period, what role family and family
structures play.

6. EITHER, (a) Compare and contrast battle scenes in two medieval German literary texts.

OR, (b) Discuss the rhetorical strategies deployed for “Reizreden”.

7. Discuss the significance of suffering and wounding in ANY ONE medieval secular or religious
work.

8. What role do the senses play in TWO OR MORE texts from the period?

9. Discuss the thematization of literary patronage in medieval German texts. If you wish, you may
restrict yourself to a single author, patron, or group of texts.

10. EITHER, (a) How are political ideals communicated in literature? Your answer should refer
to TWO OR MORE texts.

OR, (b) Discuss the presentation of inadequate rulership in ONE OR MORE texts.

11. EITHER, (a) What part do monsters or wild people play in the construction of courtliness?

OR, (b) How does medieval German literature engage with the notion of the Orient?
Discuss with reference to TWO OR MORE works.

12. How is the notion of foolishness thematized in medieval German literature?

13. Discuss the techniques used to communicate religious content in the Old High German period
with reference to ONE OR MORE works.

14. How do the medieval German romances of antiquity mark historical distance and portray the
passing of time within the text?

15. Is the concept of “courtly culture” helpful in understanding Middle High German literature? Your
answer should draw on TWO OR MORE texts.

16. Discuss the role played EITHER by chance OR by predestination in ONE OR MORE poems of
the Old High German or Early Middle High German period.

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17. EITHER, (a) Discuss the role of the prologue in ONE OR MORE Middle High German
texts.

OR, (b) ‘Der mittelalterliche Erzähler ist nicht auf Originalität bedacht’ (CHRISTOPH
HUBER). Discuss with regard to ONE OR MORE texts.

18. Discuss with reference to EITHER Willehalm OR Titurel OR Tristan what problems or
interpretation are posed by the fact that the works remain fragments.

19. EITHER, (a) ‘Der Willehalm-Roman des Parzival-Dichters: eines der großen Dokumente
der Menschlichkeit’ (JOACHIM HEINZLE). Discuss.

OR, (b) How does Wolfram’s narrator interact with the text in ANY ONE OR MORE of
the following: Parzival, Willehalm, Titurel?

20. Discuss the role of Dietrich von Bern in ONE OR MORE WORKS of medieval German
literature.

21. EITHER, (a) Assess the role of objects in the Nibelungenlied.

OR, (b) In manuscript D of the Nibelungenlied the book is named after Kriemhilt (Daz
ist daz Bůch Chreimhilden). Do you think this is an accurate assessment?

22. What is the role of the “ich” in EITHER ‘Spruchdichtung’ OR ‘Minnesang’?

23. Consider the ways in which medieval texts use the theme of a journey to structure a narrative.

24. Discuss the role of EITHER women OR clergy in medieval German ‘mæren’ or
‘Spielmannsepik’.

25. Discuss whether there is a difference to the performance aspect between songs of the 12th and
13th centuries AND poetry of the 14th and 15th centuries.

26. EITHER, (a) ‘Die weibliche Stimme in literarischen Texten von (bzw. über) Frauen ist
allenfalls in vielfältig gebrochener Weise faßbar’ (URSULA PETERS).
Discuss with regard to Mechthild von Magdeburg.

OR, (b) Discuss the importance of seeing and vision for mystical literature.

27. How do medieval German religious plays engage the audience?

28. EITHER, (a) Discuss divine intervention in TWO OR MORE medieval legends.

OR, (b) How do legends and courtly literature interact? Discuss with regard to TWO
OR MORE texts.

29. Discuss the use of rhyming couplets as poetic form in TWO OR MORE medieval works.

30. Compare and contrast a Middle High German literary text with an early modern German text.

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