The Manipulation of Image by Walther von der Vogelweide - Essay Example

The Manipulation of Image by Walther von der Vogelweide Why does red mouth not grant the speaker any favours in I follow her banner? While social status may be a convenient explanation for this, then we must assume the girl as firstly, being a peasant who is not willing to correctly play the game of courtly love, and going to bed with an armoured man. Secondly, she is an extremely highborn lady who does not dare comply with the writer’s desire although she does smile in some encouragement. However, when we consider this poem without reverting to social categorization, then it becomes apparent that the speaker does not view the position of red mouth as an issue to consider. While most of the Walther’s poems from the readings deal with social categories as impediments to love, the woman’s social status in this poem is not stated as a problem and, in fact, the speaker does not attribute her rejection for him as resulting from her social status. The writer, in fact, does not suggest any concrete reasons for to explain why he has been rejected. That is unless we consider the judgemental value spoken in the manner of a fox eyeing grapes in Aesop fables, that if she does not accept his advances, then she is not “guot” (Walther & Sey 6). This paper seeks to show how Walther von der Vogelweide uses literary imagery in an attempt to convince a woman of interest to be with him. If we are to believe what is stated in the poem directly, then the girl ought to grant her favours to the writer simply because she is expected to do so. However, his expectations arise primarily from his own argument rather than from social conventions. Approaching the issue of non-compliance with regards to imagery and implications in the poem, one comes to the realization that the writer marshals the language to convince and utilizes cliches, rhythmic shifts, questions, and exclamations to seduce and persuade red mouth. His manipulative utilization of an ideal landscape is a fine case in point. Here, the writer uses a variation of it with hidden teeth and added bite. The personification of May is dominant in the first three strophes, staging a production that is smoothly arranged in a grand manner with birds trilling an obliging chorus forests and fields don vivid costumes, and a scenic background is created by the meadow’s colours. Apparently, neither the squabbles among the cast or the incongruous ugliness mar the scene, simply due to the fact that may wields miraculous powers. On the other hand, however, to prove the extraordinary influence of May, the poet intimates that this unusual power held by May has its roots in more than one force. This creates an ambiguous situation where, even though he flavours his poem with some religion, the power that is praised here is not that of God but, rather, that of May. On one hand, the point he is trying to make is that, without God’s power, no month could equal his power expect through the magic, that is, the beauty of ideal spring is a descendant from supernatural forces. However, on the other hand, the writer lists May’s effects on nature and man, which suggests that he is manipulating the landscape for his own ends. By using unanswered and unvoiced questions, the poet, indicates that he does not exactly know the source of May’s power or that he wishes to veil this power in uncertainty. He hints that those who dare resist May’s influence are faced by an array of power and that May cannot be a fair fighter. The writer in this case uses scare tactics to discourage any resistance to what May dictates while also attesting to the supernatural power of May. The images in this case do a double duty. At this point, the process of using numerous images to persuade the woman of interest has started in earnest. In the writer’s determination to convince the woman as to what she should do, the poet is emphatic on the unusual powers possessed by May to the point that May becomes a joy to the world itself, a world separated from the rest with enchantment and in which the rules governing everyday life are not effective. The writer divides the reaction attributed to May’s power and magnificence into non-human and human responses, specifically mentioning in passing the actions of the priests and laymen. The coupling effect of priests and laymen (Walther & Sey 6), at first glance, calls on the familiar allusion during medieval times that as to the division of the church on earth two-fold. However, when we look at it again, going beyond conventional uses of imagery, the two are joined by the shared enjoyment of May, which is an odd pairing given that these two are, in fact, rivals as factions. In this poem, however, the priests and laymen are not shown as rivals because the poet wants to show the ability of May to enchant the two groups and make their conflict look meaningless when compared to the magnificence of May. More than that, this causes all evidence of the well-known conflict to vanish. Not only does May make the lion and the lamb lie together, May also creates a situation in which the lamb and the lion were never even enemies at all (Walther & Sey 7). May supply a context in which the conflict between the laymen and the clergy are reduced to the level of which is taller, like between flowers. When the writer alludes to arguments between the clover and flowers (Walther & Sey 6), the representatives of the landscape, he compares the participants to two small children taunting each other and bicker about who is taller than the other. This competition between the clover and the flower, as the writer has it, does not server to weed out the weakling but, rather, to increase the magnificence of spring. This results in the writer deviating from the normal portrayal of the infighting and bickering between the laymen and the clergy, and also underplays the potential for destruction within nature. For the benefit of the woman, the speaker is able to create a flawless spring that, without the realism of strife found in the animal kingdom, as well as a war of words present in the sphere of humans, proves an ideal season that gets its impact from its contrasting nature to the normally imperfect spring. Additionally, the elements used to describe spring have been carefully chosen so as to communicate the expectations he has vis-a-vis the audience and the woman whom he is attempting to convince. Obviously, the writer is aware of the poetic relationship between love and spring. To the writer, the there is little to be gained from attempting a more innovative way to persuade the woman to behave like the clergy and the laymen, the flowers and clovers, or even the bees and the birds (Walther & Sey 7). Therefore, the writer does not employ the stylizations of commonplaces of an ideal landscape due to the fear of trying something fresh and new. Rather, he uses increased literary visibility in these references to enable him make demands of the woman and the audience, that the spring opening in the first three strophes should be seen, as a prelude to love. Not only does the writer give unmistakable clues to the reader pertaining what he hopes follows next, that is he aims at physical consummation, but the woman is told what is expected of her regarding to compliance with the inflexible rules of summer. The speaker uses thematic and grammatical connections between the three strophes dealing with spring and the three dealing with the woman to cement this bond between the woman and spring. The speaker demands from the woman more than visual compliance. The woman in question must move past the observatory role and become more of a participant. It seems as if the ideal spring that the speaker talks about is being held up to her head in the form of a weapon. She needs to emulate the laymen and clergy and must also act in harmony with the clover and flowers, which are locked in a battle that hurts no one and only acts to enhance the riot of colour, as well as the lush growth that is produced (Walther & Sey 7). After painstakingly setting up analogies that follow an authoritative tradition and focus on an element after another in this ideal landscape, the speaker then draws the parallels present between the woman and May. Works Cited Walther, von der Vogelweide. & Sey, Angela. Walther & Sey von der Vogelweide : songs and more of and about Vogelweide and his time. Wu?rzburg : Ko?nigshausen & Neumann, 2012. Print. Read More