Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/319

 nc] TRANSITION TO MEDLEVAL POETRY 301 we recognize the valor of the chivalry of Spain, also its hate and unforgetting vengefulness. The rash- ness, the fire, and devotion of the crusading Frank find expression in the Chanson de Roland, that epic of Germanic spirit and Romance form. The common hard barbarian Teuton nature is found in the old Uildehrandslied ; then, after some centuries of growth, clear German traits are seen at their zenith in two utterly different, yet typical, expressions of the Ger- man spirit, the Nibelungenlied and the Parzival, Wolf- ram's thoughtful poem. How utterly different from all these, and how masterfully and inclusively and finally Italian, is the Divina Commedia, which is no whit Latin, and yet distinctly Italian in that it bears transformed within itself the classic Latin heritage.