Role poem
A role poem is a (largely historical) form of poem in which the lyrical ego takes on the role of a character , whereby the character's speech is put into the mouth of that character. It is not uncommon for the title of the poem to refer to the “speaking” person. Frequent roles are boys, shepherds, hikers and characters from mythology .
The concept of the role poem or lyric role is also related to the European poetry of the Middle Ages used as it is in love poetry is a figure of speech-like shape. This is justified in the contents of the Minnelyric, in which both married women were sung about, and the sexual execution of mostly married nobles with women from the lower class was negotiated. Such a topic, which violated the prevailing Christian norms, was socially recognized only if it was either based on renunciation in the form of love or conceived as a de-individualized speech. In addition, there are actual role poems in medieval poetry, which are spoken, for example, from the role of a woman ( women's songs ).
Examples
- Clemens Brentano : The spinner song
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Shepherd's lament
- Heinrich Heine : Song of the Prisoner
- Rainer Maria Rilke : The blind man's song
- Ludwig Uhland : The boy mountain member
- Gottfried August Bürger : The farmer to his serene tyrant