The transition from this rigid ecclesiastic spirit to a freer, more imaginative literature is to be seen in the lyric poetry inspired by the Virgin, in the legends of the saints which bulk so largely in the poetry of the 12th century, and in the general trend towards mysticism.
The disturbing and disintegrating element in the literature of the 13th century was thus the substitution of a utilitarian.didacticism for the idealism of chivalry.
The literature of the middle of the century was not wanting in achievement, but there was nothing buoyant or youthful about it; most significant of all, the generation between 1848 and 1880 was either oblivious or indifferent to the good work and to the new and germinating ideas which it produced.
As in other literatures, these popular elements form the foundation on which greater works are gradually built, and it is one function of literary criticism to show the way in which the component parts were welded into a uniform whole.
Very important for the study of Midrashic literature are the Yalgut (gleaning) Shim`oni, on the whole Bible, the Yalqut Mekhiri, on the Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs and Job, and the Midrash ha-gadhol, 2 all of which are of uncertain but late date and preserve earlier material.
Their literature, with which alone we are here concerned, is largely polemical and to a great extent deals with grammar and exegesis.
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