BOOK I

Introduction, lines 1-66. This introduction, which is confessedly obscure, both in style and thought, appears to have been written _after_ the completion of the poem, and to have been intended by the writer to serve both as a key to the meaning of the poem, and as a defence of his method of treatment. That Wolfram was blamed by his contemporaries, notably by Gottfried von Strassbourg, for his lack of a polished style, and obscurity of thought, we know; and in _Willehalm_ he speaks, in the following words, of the varying judgment passed upon his _Parzival_:--

'Swaz ich von Parzivâl gesprach, des sîn aventiur mich wîste, etzlich man daz prîste: ir was ouch vil, diez smoethen Und baz ir rede wæhten.

and it is evidently to these critics that the first part of the Introduction is addressed.

Lines 1-8 give the key to the whole poem: the contrast between doubt or unsteadfastness, and steadfast faith and truth, as imaged in the contrast between darkness and light, black and white. This idea runs throughout the poem, is worked out symbolically in the character and experiences of the hero, and is shown in a concrete form in the person of his brother Feirefis. The poet notes that many readers have failed, through lack of intelligence, to grasp the meaning of this parable, which is too swift and subtle for their comprehension. A parallel passage will be found in