What matters? The creativity of Prague University students in the 14th and 15th centuries and their use of rhyme
Abstract
With the creation of the university in the 2nd half of the 14th century, Prague witnessed an establishment of a new social network that attracted young and talented people from far and wide. Although their main task was to study, they also had a possibility to develop their creativity in music and verse: not only privately, but also by creating music for the liturgy in the college chapels.
There are poems and verse structures which the students brought to Prague, that were equipped with a different melody. It is striking to follow which characteristics of existing texts were preserved, which ones were abandoned, and what was the nature of newly introduced qualities.
This can be observed upon the (dis)respect of the "7pp+6p" and other verse patterns. In the process of adaptation of existing models and creation of new compositions, there was sometimes a clear struggle between theology, music and poetry.
Who was the winner? Based on the examples of songs with long traditions, we can follow these developments deep in the 15th century. The old cores of 14th century poetry, filled with the faintest allusions to less known Bible contexts and theological problems of the Middle Ages, were preserved with great respect, although in a misunderstood way.
Moreover, since ca. 1380, the developing ardent lay spirituality overwhealmed the sometimes cold intellectual attitude, which lead to changes in the preference and qualities of metaphors. Small jokes and subtle hints to broad contexts were neutralized through the increasing abundance of diminutives and literality, so typical for local popular Christmas songs, for instance.