The language of the Nibelungenlied is characterized by its formulaic nature, a feature of oral poetry, meaning that similar or identical words, epithets, phrases, and even lines can be found in various positions throughout the poem. These elements can be used flexibly for different purposes in the poem. As the Nibelungenlied is generally thought to have been conceived as a written work, these elements are typically taken as signs of "fictive orality" ("fingierte Mündlichkeit") that underscore the connection of the poem to its traditionally oral subject matter.[29]
The Nibelungenlied is written in four-line stanzas. Although no melody has survived for the text, melodies for similar stanzas in other German heroic poems have, so that it is certain that the text was meant to be sung.[30] The stanza consists of three Langzeilen ("long lines"), which consist of three metrical feet, a caesura, and three metrical feet following the caesura. The fourth line adds an additional foot following the caesura, making it longer than the other three and marking the end of the stanza. The final word before the caesura is typically female (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable), whereas the final word of a line is typical male (a stressed syllable). The lines rhyme in pairs, and occasionally there are internal rhymes between the words at the end of the caesura, as in the first stanza (see Synopsis).[31] Medieval German literature scholar Victor Millet uses the poem's sixth stanza as an example of this metrical form. An acute accent indicates the stressed beat of a metrical foot, and || indicates the caesura:
Ze Wórmez bí dem Ríne || si wónten mít ir kráft. in díente vón ir lánden || vil stólziu ríterscáft mit lóbelíchen éren || unz án ir éndes zít. si stúrben sit jǽmerlíche || von zwéier édelen fróuwen nít.
Many stanzas of the poem are constructed in a much less regular manner.[32] It is likely that the Nibelungenlied cites an oral story-telling tradition in using singable stanzas; however, the longer final line is generally thought to belong to a more refined artistic milieu, as later heroic epics typically use a stanza without this longer final line (the so-called "Hildebrandston"). The stanzaic form of the Nibelungenlied, on the other hand, is shared with the Danubian minnesinger known as Der von Kürenberg who flourished in the 1150s and 1160s. The Nibelungenlied-poet may have been inspired by this lyrical stanza. Their use of the stanza would thus cite an oral story-telling tradition while at the same time creating some distance to it.[33] Philologist Andreas Heusler supposed that the poet had taken some earlier orally transmitted stanzas and added a fourth foot to their final line, as these supposedly older stanzas are characterized by a more archaic vocabulary as well. German medievalist Jan-Dirk Müller notes that while it would be typical of a medieval poet to incorporate lines from other works in their own, no stanza of the Nibelungenlied can be proven to have come from an older poem.[34]
The nature of the stanza creates a structure whereby the narrative progresses in blocks: the first three lines carry the story forward, while the fourth introduces foreshadowing of the disaster at the end or comments on events. The fourth line is thus often the most formulaic of the stanza.[34] Stanzas often seem to have been placed after each other without necessarily being causally or narratively connected; for instance, two consecutive stanzas might portray two different reactions to an event by the same figure. Often, the same reaction is given to multiple figures in different stanzas, so that the impression of collective rather than individual reactions is created.[35] Enjambment between stanzas is very rare.[36] The epic frequently creates multiple motivations for events, some of which may contradict each other.[37] This style of narration also causes the events within the poem to come to a frequent halt, which can last for years within the time portrayed in the poem. The division of the epic into Âventiuren (lit. 'adventures') underlines the disconnect between the various episodes.[38] The connection between the first half of the epic (Siegfried's murder) and the second half (Kriemhild's marriage to Etzel) is especially loose. The epic nevertheless maintains the causal and narrative connection between episodes through the commentary of the narrator, who frequently reminds the poem's audience of the coming catastrophe, while the manner in which the epic is told serves to delay the inevitable disaster. The action becomes more and more intense as the epic nears its end.[39]
