Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/299

 TOPICAL POETRY 287 in the princes, which were so disastrous to the people, may be mentioned ' Eeineke Vos ' (The Eomance of a Fox), which appeared in Liibeck in 1498, and is one of the most important poems as a specimen of Low-Ger- man dialect. It is an adaptation of the poet Wilhelm's 4 Keynard.' ' Narrenschiff ' (The Fool's Bark), by Sebastian Brant, is without doubt the most remarkable of the popular poems of its time (1494). It is satirical in form but profoundly religious in spirit. The reputation of German poetry, which had steadily declined for more than a centurj' -, was raised both at home and abroad by this production. Few works in literature can boast of such a decided and immediate success as the i Nar- renschiff.' Copies of it were spread over all Germany in an incredibly short time. It was translated into Low German and Dutch. Twice it was translated into Latin. In France three translations of it appeared in different editions. In England it was translated twice. Emen- dations, imitations, and adaptations of it appeared in shoals from year to year. Contemporaneous writers compared the poet to Dante. Trithemius said, 'The " JSTarrenschiff" is a divine satire,' and he expressed a doubt that anything could be found to equal it in eloquence and profundity. Wimpheling recommended its use in the schools, and Geiler von Kaisersberg quoted from it in many of his sermons. Although Brant may be said to have imitated styles already in vogue, it must be acknowledged that he was the founder of a certain epoch of literature. ' He was the first fully to express the ideas of the middle classes and to inaugurate what may be called a bourgeois literature.' No poet before or after him so thoroughly united the deep