Language, Literature, and Middle High German

ions, such as the discursive meaning. An example of this is Husen Ich lobe got der siner guete (MF 50, 19 ff.) The word gerne appears conspicuously in three stanzas, the word ungerne in the other. The possibility is thus raised of a parallelism, imperfectly realized. Kraus accordingly writes gerne in that stanza as well, and perfect parallelism has become an absolute. Apart from the actual act of emendation, which is a habit peculiar to mediaevalists, this involves comparing the poem with an arbitrary standard of formal excellence. If, instead, we relate the apparent imperfection back to the rest of the poem, it turns out to be functional. For the whole poem is a paradox; the speaker both loves and hates the protective apparatus, or huote that keeps him from the lady, and yet keeps other men away as well. The convention invoked is that the lady is pleased to be so protected, and would not enjoy the unwelcome attentions of all and sundry. Husen accordingly writes: noch bezzer ist daz man si huete dan iegelicher sinen willen spraeche daz si ungerne horte und mir die froide gar zerstorte. But since the formal pressure of the poem is for gerne at this point, another and less noble emotion (i.e., jealousy, in case these other attentions should be welcome after all) is both suggested and rejected. Writing gerne is reductive. More is expressed by breaking the sequence than by fulfilling it, an effect which I understand is true of language generally, where, within certain limits, predictability and significance are in inverse proportion

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