Ava (poet) facts for kids

The poet Ava (born around 1060 – died February 7, 1127) was a very important writer. She is known as the first female writer in the German language whose name we know! She wrote five poems about Christian ideas like salvation and the return of Christ. Her work about the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus is even called "the first German epic poem." Ava was special because she wrote in simple rhyming lines that ordinary people could understand, making complex religious teachings easy to learn.

Ava's Life Story

We don't know a lot about Ava's life, but we can guess some things from her writings. We know she was married and had two sons. She mentions them in a note at the end of her poem called Das Jüngste Gericht (which means The Last Judgment). From this note, we also learn that one of her sons died before she did.

Because Ava knew so much about the Bible, many experts believe she was the same "Ava" whose death is recorded in old monasteries in Austria. It's thought that after her husband died, Ava lived as an anchorite (anchoress). This means she lived a very religious life, often in a small room attached to a church or monastery, dedicating herself to prayer. She might have lived at Göttweig Abbey or Melk Abbey.

Even today, there's a tower near Göttweig called "Ava's Tower" (Avaturm). It might be part of an old nunnery. It's also likely that the church of Saint Blaise in Klein-Wien stands where Ava's small chapel once was.

For a long time, people called her "Frau Ava." But now, many scholars just call her "Ava" because "Frau" (which means "Mrs." or "Lady") can sound a bit old-fashioned or even patronizing, especially since male poets from that time aren't called "Herr" (Mr.).

Ava's Writings

Four of Ava's poems were found in a very old book called the Vorauer Manuscript, from around 1150. These four poems, plus a fifth one about the life of John the Baptist, also appear in a book from the 1300s. Ava is given credit for these five poems because they appear together in these old books, and because her name is mentioned as the author in the afterword of Das Jüngste Gericht. All five poems have a similar style, grammar, and themes, which makes experts believe they were all written by her.

Even though she wrote in everyday language, Ava was very good at sharing deep meanings in simple ways. Her poems use many different images, showing that she understood Christian ideas very well and got inspiration from many sources. She was able to combine different stories from the Gospels (parts of the Bible) in a way that showed her skill, while also creating her own unique voice.

In her poetry, Ava used ideas from important religious writings by people like Bede, Rabanus Maurus, and Alcuin. Her poems all focus on themes of salvation (being saved) and the end of the world, as described in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Like many writers of her time, she included popular stories and ideas from the "Medieval popular Bible." These were common stories that people believed, like the ox and the donkey being at Jesus's birth, even though they aren't actually in the Bible itself. She also added content from the Apocrypha, which are other religious writings not always included in the main Bible.

Here are the names of her poems:

• "Johannes" ("John the Baptist")
• "Leben Jesu" ("Jesus, The Son of God") – this one also has a part about "Die 7 Gaben des Heiligen Geistes" ("The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit")
• "Antichrist"
• "Das Jüngste Gericht" ("The Last Judgment")
• "The Seven Gifts of The Holy Spirit" (this is the separate poem mentioned above)

Frau Ava Literature Prize

Since 2001, there has been a special literary prize called the Frau Ava Literaturpreis. It's given out every two years by the towns of Paudorf and Furth bei Göttweig. The first prize was given in 2003. This award is for female writers who have already published books in German. Their works should be about spiritual, religious, or political topics and be aimed at, or interesting to, young readers.