The Nibelungenlied
by Anonymous · Das Nibelungenlied
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 1200
- Era
- Medieval
- Form
- Epic poetry
- Language
- German
- Length
- Long · 400 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Nibelungenlied, translated by A. T. HattoPenguin Classics, 1969A prose translation with long appendices on the poem's sources, characters and manuscript problems.
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A Middle High German epic in thirty-nine adventures. The hero Siegfried, killer of a dragon and owner of the Nibelung treasure, comes to Worms to win Kriemhild, sister of the Burgundian king Gunther, and helps Gunther by trickery to win the Icelandic queen Brünhild. A quarrel between the two queens exposes the deceit, and Gunther's vassal Hagen murders Siegfried and sinks the treasure in the Rhine. Years later Kriemhild marries Etzel, king of the Huns, invites her brothers to his court, and destroys them and herself in a massacre.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Nibelungenlied are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.