The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal: Book VI: I. The Parsifal of Wolfram Von Eschenbach

I

THE PARSIFAL OF WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH

THOSE who in recent times have discussed the poem of Wolfram with titles to consideration on account of their equipment have been impressed not alone by the signal distinctions between this German poem and the Perceval legends as we know them in Northern France, but by a superiority of spiritual purpose and a higher ethical value which are thought to characterise the knightly epic. For the moment, at least, it can be said on my own part that we are in the presence of a poet whose work is full of gorgeous pictures, all rude diction notwithstanding, and all contemporary reproaches made upon that score. To me--but as one who on such subjects speaks with a sense of remoteness--the traces of Oriental influence seem clear in the poem, partly in its decorative character and partly in its allusions to places--after every allowance has been made for geographical confusions. Such traces are allowed, and they are referred to the source of Wolfram, about which I must say something in this section to introduce the separate inquiry which will follow hereafter. But we are asked in our turn to recognise that the Parsifal is the most heterodox branch of the whole Graal cycle, though it