He who cares for flowers must lament much at this heavy, dismal
    time; a wife helps to shorten the long nights.  In this way I will
    shorten long winter without the birds’ song.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, too, is very sparing of references to Nature:  time is given by such phrases as ‘when twilight began,’ or ’as the day broke,’ ‘at the bright glow of morning’ ... ’as day already turned to evening.’

His interest in real things was driven into the background by love-making and adventures—­Arthur’s Round Table and the Holy Grail; all the romance of knighthood.  When he described a forest or a garden, he always decked it out lavishly.

For instance, the garden in Orgeluse: 

A garden surrounding a mountain, planted with noble trees where pomegranates, figs, olives, vines, and other fruits grew richly ... a spring poured from the rock, and (for all this would have been nothing to him without a fair lady) there he found what did not displease him—­a lady so beautiful and fair that he was charmed at the sight, the flower of womanly beauty.

Comparisons are few and not very poetic.  In Songs of the Heart—­

    The lady of the land watered herself with her heart’s tears.

    Her eyes rained upon the child.

    Her joy was drowned in lamentation.

Gawan and Orgeluse,

    Spite their outer sweetness, as disagreeable as a shower of rain
    in sunshine.

    There were many fair flowers, but their colours could not compare
    with that of Orgeluse.

His heroes are specially fond of birds.  Young Parzival

    Felt little care while the little birds sang round him; it made
    his heart swell, he ran weeping into the house.

and Gawan

    Found a door open into a garden; he stept in to look round and
    enjoy the air and the singing of the birds.

So we see that in the Nibelungenlied scarcely a plant grew, and Hartmann and Wolfram’s gardens belonged almost entirely to an unreal region; there are no traces of a very deep feeling for Nature in all this.

But Gottfried von Strassburg, with his vivid, sensuous imagination and keen eye for beauty, shewed a distinct advance both in taste and achievement.  He, too, notes time briefly:  ’And as it drew towards evening,’ ‘Now day had broke.’  He repeats his comparisons:  fair ladies are ‘the wonder rose of May,’ ‘the longing white rose.’  The two Isolts are sun and dawn.  Brangaene is the full moon.  The terrified girl is thus described: 

    Her rosy mouth paled; the fair colour, which was her ornament,
    died out of her skin; her bright eyes grew dim like night after
    day.

Another comparison is: 

    Like the siren’s song, drawing a bark to the reef as by a magnet,
    so the sweet young queen attracted many hearts.