For five hundred years after Walther's death - until Goethe - no German lyric poet was his equal.
Walther von der VogelweideWinter has caused damage everywhere: meadow and forest are all grey, where before you heard many sounds. If I could see the girls play ball on the street, then bird song would come back. If only I could sleep through the winter! When I am awake I feel only hatred that his power is so far and wide. God knows, he even fights with May; I picked flowers where there is now snow.
Walther von der Vogelweide