Kudrun

The growing research interest in the »Nibelungenlied« and problems of heroic literature in general has also led to heightened interest in »Kudrun«. The verse epic is much influenced by the »Nibelungenlied« and is cast in a stanza form derived from the »Nibelungen« stanza. At the same time it presents a complementary view of the events in question. Here the decline of heroism is not the main theme of the plot but its replacement by the new, gentler spirit of courtly mores. In its central section the poem is a paean to the superiority of female constancy and capacity for uncomplaining suffering over the gory heroics of the declining era.