This study reassesses the poetry of Paul Fleming (1609-1640) in the context of its own literary, historical, and social background. The four chapters focus initially on generic and historical context. The study of selected texts leads to more general considerations of the sources and significance of certain major themes. A number of poems by Fleming and poets contemporary with him uncovered in the twentieth century are evaluated here for the first time.
The result is a substantially revised view of Fleming's poetic development. Fleming is shown to have been a more complex and wide-ranging poet than was conventionally thought, one whose debt to Renaissance literary traditions has been underestimated.
Author(s): Marian R. Sperberg-McQueen
Series: University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures, 110
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Year: 1990
Language: English
Pages: 256
City: Chapel Hill
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Orthography and Citation Practices
Introduction
1. Roots and New Beginnings: The 'Arae Schönburgicae' and Fleming's Earliest Surviving German Poems (1629–1630)
The Fleming Family and the House of Schönburg
Fleming's Strategic Use of Models for the 'Arae Schönburgicae' Cycle
Formal Characteristics of the German Poems
'Sonnet' and 'Elegie'
'Epigramma' and 'Der klagende Bräutigam'. I
'Der klagende Bräutigam'. II
The 'Arae Schönburgicae', Epicedia, and the Beginnings of Fleming's Neo-Stoicism
The Fleming Family and the House of Schönburg Again
2. Politics and Poetry in Saxony: The Policies of Elector Johann Georg of Saxony and the 'Schreiben vertriebener Frau Germanien' (1631)
The Iconography of Fleming's Frau Germania and Connections to Other Irenicist Works
Means of Persuasion Employed by Frau Germania
Fleming's Politics, His Search for Patronage, and His Decision to Leave Germany
3. Baltic Pastoral: Fleming's 'Schäferei' for Reiner Brokmann (1635)
Fleming's Journey to Reval, His Contacts There, and His Friendship with Reiner Brokmann
Structural Correspondences between P.W.111.6 and Opitz's 'Hercinie'
The Panegyrical Poems in Fleming's and Opitz's 'Schäfereien' and Fleming's Focus on Friendship
Fleming's Realism
Fleming's Epithalamium as a Critique of Opitz's Depiction of Love
Sources and Development of Fleming's Concept of 'Treue'
4. Epistolae ex Persia: The Poetic Epistles Written during the Persian Journey (1636–1638)
History and Theory of the Poetic Epistle
The Poetic Epistles of Martin Opitz
Fleming's Poetic Epistles
'Nach seinem Traume an seinen vertrautesten Freund' (P.W.IV.50)
'An Herrn Olearien vor Astrachan der Reuβen in Nagaien' (P.W.IV.44)
'An einen seiner vertrautesten Freunde auf dessen seiner Buhlschaft ihren Namenstag' (PW.IV.49)
'An Herrn Hansen Arpenbeken, vertrauten Bruders, auf dessen seiner Liebsten ihren Namenstag in Gilan begangen' (P.W.IV.51)
Characteristics of Fleming's Poetic Epistles
Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index
