As Knittelvers, Knüttelvers and Knüttel is called a German verse, which was particularly popular in the 16th century. The Knittelverse is a four-edged verse, which is characterized by a pair of rhymes: successive lines of rhymes are rhyming. However, the number of sinks is optional. A distinction is made between free and severe knights (see below).
The term is derived from the Frühochochdeutschen, whereby Knittel and Knüttelwort for the noun are rhyme. The origin of the word thus provides information on the fundamental point of this kind of verse: rhyming verses [which are often characterized by four elevations each]. Let’s look at an example.
Honest, white and cheap men
To increase your joy and frivolity,
Beyd that it yetz is at the zeyt,
To several freud and fröligkeyt,
Let us be pure to you all
[…] of course,
The above example is from Hans Sachs, a Nuremberg composer, and Meistersinger, who is also known for his tales and fasting games. The arrangement of the verses in pairs rhymes is evident in this case. Accordingly, successive lines are rhyming (see Reimschema).
We have to do with a form of the Knittelverses, which was used especially in the Middle Ages: the stern Knittelvers. This presupposes that the work consists of pairs of rhymes, and that each line may be composed of eight or nine syllables, the cadences appearing to change.
The cadences are interchangeable in that a line which is composed of nine syllables ends unstressed, while a line based on eight syllables is markedly ending. If a verse ends in an unaccented syllable, we call the cadenza feminine, it ends with emphasis, we call it male.
Honest, white and cheap men
To increase your joy and frivolity,
Beyd that it yetz is at the zeyt,
To several freud and fröligkeyt,
Let us be pure to you all
[…] of course,
It is evident that, in the example of Hans Sachs, the end rhyme sequence corresponds to the pair rhyme (aabbcc), all lines consist of either eight or nine syllables, which is why the cadences in the poem appear changeable. The text thus corresponds to the strict Knittelvers. The counterpart is the free Knittelvers.
In contrast to the strict one, the free one is to be broken down into a single feature: it is formed from pairs of rhymes, and usually consists of the sequence of six to sixteen syllables. Due to the simple and bumpy structure, the shape was often rated disparagingly. As a matter of fact, Optiz, the Alexandrian, declared to the measure of German poetry, and thus told the Knittel the struggle, and pushed it out.
Thus the Knittel fell into the background of German poetry and sounded only occasionally in popular poetry. In the eighteenth century, however, Johann Christoph Gottsched, the alternating knight for comic poetry, recommended. Alternating means that the reliefs and counters are versatile. As a result, the verse was increasingly used again. Thus also by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Have now, ah! Philosophy,
Jurisprudence and medicine,
And, unfortunately, theology!
Thoroughly studied with a lot of effort.
There I stand now, I poor gate!
And am as wise as before;
Hot Master, Hot Doctor,
And already go to the ten years
Up, down and crooked
My students around the nose –
And see that we can know nothing!
It almost burns my heart.
The above example is the input monologue of the fuse. This consists, once, apart from the cross-rhyme at the beginning, from pairs of rhymes, the number of syllables being different. However, each line of verse consists only of four heights, the number of the counters remaining free.
This transformation by Goethe and his contemporaries is also the reason why a clear definition of the verse is difficult. One no longer counted the number of syllables, but made a four-bar from the Knittelvers, which was mostly Iambic. Furthermore, not only the pair rhyme was allowed, but also other rhyme schemata. This variant is called Neuhochdeutsche Knittelversversen.
– υ υ – – υ υ –
– υ υ – – υ υ –
υ – υ – – υ υ –
– υ υ – υ – υ υ –
υ – υ – υ – υ –
υ – υ – υ – υ –
– υ υ – υ – υ – υ υ
υ – υ – υ υ – υ –
υ – υ – υ – υ –
– υ – υ υ υ – υ υ –
υ – υ υ υ – – υ – υ
υ – υ – υ – υ – υ
Here, the accented and unstressed syllables of the Faust monologue were highlighted. It is made clear that Goethe uses a four-bar almost in every line. However, the verses are not subject to yambus. Furthermore, there are a handful of places in the example in which several lifts collide (→ lifting impact). The reductions appear in Fig