Hadewijch of Antwerp - Theodoor Weevers (essay date 1960)
Theodoor Weevers (essay date 1960)
SOURCE: Weevers, Theodoor. “The Netherlands in Medieval Literature.” In Poetry of the Netherlands in its European Context 1170-1930, pp. 7-45. London: The Athlone Press, 1960.
[In the following excerpt, Weevers concentrates on Hadewijch's style and major poetic influences: Henric van Veldeke, Provençal troubadours, Rhineland Minnesingers, and Latin devotional verse.]
[T]he appearance of the lyrical genius Hadewijch in the first half of the thirteenth century well-nigh compels us to assume a continuation of the Dutch courtly lyric in the period after 1180. Such consummate mastery as hers is inexplicable but for the existence of a native tradition of minnesanc. The apparently surprising fact that her work alone survived the anti-courtly reaction of the later thirteenth century is sufficiently explained by its religious content.
Hadewijch ranks with the earlier Dante and the other poets...
[The entire page is 5395 words long]
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