Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/295

 283 CHAPTER VII 'TOPICAL POETRY Despite the fact that the national poetic taste appeared' in the profane and religious folk-songs, and although the periodical feasts with their innocent rejoicings did much to elevate men's thoughts by taking them from the merely practical, still the age of true poetry as an art and fosterer of imagination was past. We find none of its creations capable of ennobling life or of stimulating thought, none glowing with the true poetic fire. The writing of poetry had become a trade in which rude reality was the predominating feature. The didactic style prevailed, and, taking all their inspira- tion from the present time, our poets rarely got beyond bare description or the beaten track of narrow views. To poetic talent in its true sense, therefore, they can lay but little claim. Nevertheless, if one takes into consideration the earnestness and loyalty with which they worked for the cultivation of their contemporaries and the bettering of the State politically and religiously, they must be conceded a certain merit. The out- spoken honesty with which they dared to proclaim the truth to the great ones of the earth had in it something of a refreshing spirit. They called virtue virtue and vice vice, and cited high and low alike before the Great Judge of good and evil. ' If you wish to read poetry,' says the ' Soul's Guide,' ' read that which under the