scansion of the line in question shows that the three accents are
not complete without this final "e". In this respect our poem
differs from most of the Middle High German poems, as this
practice of using the final "e" in rhyme began to die out in the
twelfth century, though occasionally found throughout the period.
The rhymes are, as a rule, quite exact, the few cases of impure
rhymes being mainly those in which short and long vowels are
rhymed together, e.g. "mich" : "rich" or "man" : "han". Caesural
rhymes are frequently met with, and were considered by Lachmann
to be the marks of interpolated strophes, a view no longer held.
A further peculiarity of the "Nibelungen" strophe is the frequent
omission of the unaccented syllable in the second half of the
last line of the strophe between the second and third stresses.
Examples of this will be found in the second, third, and fifth
strophes of the passage given above.

The language of the "Nibelungenlied" is the so-called Middle High
German, that is, the High German written and spoken in the period
between 1100 and 1500, the language of the great romances of
chivalry and of the "Minnesingers". More exactly, the poem is
written in the Austrian dialect of the close of the twelfth
century, but contains many archaisms, which point to the fact of
its having undergone a number of revisions.

In closing this brief study of the "Nibelungenlied", just a word
or two further with reference to the poem, its character, and its
place in German literature. Its theme is the ancient Teutonic
ideal of "Treue" (faithfulness or fidelity), which has found here
its most magnificent portrayal; faithfulness unto death, the
loyalty of the vassal for his lord, as depicted in Hagen, the