Early humanism and reflexion on myth--two processes: (1) rejection of the grosser myths; (2) refinement of myth through poetry 40 Two ways of refining myth in poetry--(1) by turning it into mere fancy, and the more ludicrous things into comedy; (2) by finding an imaginative or an ethical meaning in it 40 Instances in Icelandic literature--_Lokasenna_ 41 Snorri Sturluson, his ironical method in the _Edda_ 42 The old gods rescued from clerical persecution 43 Imaginative treatment of the graver myths--the death of Balder; the Doom of the Gods 43 Difficulties in the attainment of poetical self-command 44 Medieval confusion and distraction 45 Premature "culture" 46 Depreciation of native work in comparison with ancient literature and with theology 47 An Icelandic gentleman's library 47 The whalebone casket 48 Epic not wholly stifled by "useful knowledge" 49 IV THE THREE SCHOOLS--TEUTONIC EPIC--FRENCH EPIC--THE ICELANDIC HISTORIES Early failure of Epic among the Continental Germans 50 Old English Epic invaded by Romance (Lives of Saints, etc.) 50 Old Northern (Icelandic) poetry full of romantic mythology 51 French Epic and Romance contrasted 51 Feudalism in the old French Epic (_Chansons de Geste_) not unlike the prefeudal "heroic age" 52 But the _Chansons de Geste_ are in many ways "romantic" 53 Comparison of the English _Song of Byrhtnoth_ (_Maldon_, A.D. 991) with the _Chanson de Roland_ 54 Severity and restraint of _Byrhtnoth_ 55 Mystery and pathos of _Roland_ 56 Iceland and the German heroic age 57 The Icelandic paradox--old-fashioned politics together with clear understanding 58 Icelandic prose literature--its subject, the anarchy of the heroic age; its methods, clear and positive 59 The Icelandic histories, in prose, complete the development of the early Teutonic Epic poetry 60 CHAPTER II THE TEUTONIC EPIC I THE TRAGIC CONCEPTION Early German poetry 65 One of the first things certain about it is that it knew the meaning of tragic situations 66 The _Death of Ermanaric_ in Jordanes 66 The story of _Alboin_ in Paulus Diaconus 66