"Zu einem Muster vnnd Fürbilde": Julius Wilhelm Zincgrefs programmatische Anthologie deutscher Gedichte von 1624.

Julius Wilhelm Zincgref's supplement to Martin Opitz's Deutsche Pöemata , the "Anhange Underschiedlicher außgesuchter Getichten anderer mehr teutschen Poeten" (1624), is considered the first German-language anthology. Like Opitz' Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey and his collection of poetry, it served to establish German as a language of poetry in the European context and to position Zincgref in the cultural field alongside – and in unspoken competition with – Opitz. It also helped to commemorate older German-language poetry from the southwest German-speaking region. The anthology thus appears as a central literary document in the transition between humanism, the Reformation period and the Baroque. The article deals with the editorial presentation in the first edition, determines cultural-historical contexts and explains central functions of the anthology against the background of current research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]