Idyllic, up to the eighteenth century also Idyll, is an epic, sometimes also dramatic and rarely dialogical poetical form, which mostly depicts in verses or prose the sensitive, peacefully-modest, paradise and rural life and thereby a harmless, peaceful, secure and harmonious world. Such idyls are usually written in everyday language and either come as a separate work – especially as Kleinepik or in closed individual scenes – or are embedded in a larger work. The idyll is a common form of pastoral poetry and is popular in the sensibility as well as in the Biedermeier (see Literaturepochen).
The term is derived from the Greek noun eidyllion and can be translated into words with small pictures or small, self-contained poems. This translation refers to the general understanding of the concept: is somewhat idyllic, then it is expressed that it is harmonious, partly rural and above all peaceful. This means a state or a picture that has a peaceful effect on the viewer.
In terms of art, the word means the representation of landscapes, castles, castles, people in nature, whereby disturbing objects are mostly retouched. With regard to literature, the term means almost the same thing: namely the depiction of rural, peaceful life, the genre being already documented in the ancient world, namely the Greek poet Theokritos (around 270 BC) scene
Exemplary idyll, The Arcadian shepherds of Nicolas Poussin
The above example is a section of a painting by the French painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), a representative of the classic Baroque. At first sight, the image can be regarded as an idyll. You can see people in nature who appear peaceful and harmonious. A second glance reveals a different aspect: the depicted are in front of a tomb where ET IN ARCADIA EGO stands. This latin ellipse can also be translated as “I” (in Arcadia).
Arcadia is a slogan that is characteristic of idyllic works. Arcadia is seen in the literature as a place that is beyond all social constraints. Arcadia is thus the epitome of the idyllic. Consequently, Arcadia is considered a locus amoenus, a literary topos, which mostly shows man in nature. In literature and art often shepherds are the protagonists.
Idyllic in the literature
In the literature, the idyll has been documented since Theokritos (ca. 270 BC), a Greek poet. Many epigrams are handed down under Theokrit’s name, but also many different idyls, although it is not always clear whether these are actually attributable to this poet. In terms of content this is however secondary. Theocrito’s works mostly depict scenes from everyday life, but also a herd of poetry or mythological themes (see myth). Let’s look at an example (excerpt):
The sound of the pine is over there
Whispering at the rock spring, the melodic; lovely sounds
Your Syringe; after Pan will cost you the other price.
When he bought the goat, he had the goat,
If he keeps the goat for the reward, then follow the kid
To you; and fine is the flesh of the kid until you milk it.
In the above example, which is the first section of the work of Thyrsis and translated into German by Eduard Mörike, it is fundamentally clear what it is. The representation of the harmonious nature is very present, when the rock spring whispers loudly and the syringe (a muse, patron of the arts) sounds lovely. In addition, something rural is placed in the center (milking, slaughtering).
In ancient times there are other poets who praise life in nature, and above all the life of the shepherds, such as Bion of Smyrna (around 100 BC) or Moschos (2nd century BC), in such cheerful and harmonious works BC), which is almost exclusively known for its bucolic poetry (which tells of the life of the cattle herds). It is characteristic that the ancient texts are less lyrical and appear rather as dialogues, ie semi-dramatic. Later on, it is then that Vergil’s ecologists, who become the model of the European herd of poultry, also dominates the dialogue. An example excerpt:
Two-shepherd song, Damon and Alphesibo,
Whosoever, the Weid, carelessly guessed at the forest cow
During the battle, on whose din of the lynx,
And, from his own course, the mountain stream was resting:
Damon’s miracle song I am and Alphesiböus.
Note: Complete text in the project Gutenberg
Also in Vergil’s text, the central motive is the peaceful and harmonious life of the shepherds. This motif, and the way in which Vergil worked it, became the essential model of the pastoral poetry – and also of the idyllic poetry – in Europe from the beginnings of the Renaissance (see Quattrocento) over the Baroque until the late 18th century. Especially in the 18th century, in the sense of sensibility, the idyll is very common. Often idyllic country life and bourgeois city life are juxtaposed here.
The poems of this poem form were mostly found in a kind of paradise in the Baroque, the primordial state of man being a central motif. In the Enlightenment it is above all the yearning for a golden age and the desire for (inner) peace, which drives the authors and leads to the idyllic poetry. An important representative of this period is the idyllic poet, painter and graphic designer Salomon Gessner (1730-1788). His idylls showed a golden age of undisturbed harmony. An example:
You friendly nymphs, who live in this quiet rock, you have planted thick bushes before the cool opening, that quiet silence and gentle shadow will fill you; who pour out this clear source from your urns, if you do not rejoice in the thick grove with the forest gods, or on the nearby hill, or if you sleep on your urns, then my voice will not stir your peace. But listen to my complaints, friendly nymphs, if you watch! I love – – ah! – – I love the Lycas with the yellow hair! (From: Gessner, Salomon: Idylls, Zurich, 1756, beginning of the chapter “Chloe”)
Gessner’s idyls are mostly written in rhythmic prose and also take up elements of Greek mythology. Gessner himself referred to Theocritus, although a close connection with the subject is also evident in the poetry of the Arcadian shepherd world of the Italian-French court poets of the 17th century.
In the following centuries, numerous authors continue to try to find the idyllic poetry, such as Eduard Mörike, Heinrich Heine, Thomas Mann or even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Nevertheless, the sentimental aspect of the original form is often unachieved, since in many idylls a rather pessimistic basic attitude of the lyric self dominates and thus the indifference of the first idols is not present.
Short overview: The most important part of the term at a glance
As an idyl, also an idyll, in general language usage is called an image or a state that is contemplative and peaceful to the viewer. In art, it is the representation of such scenes as natural representations, castles as well as the representation of man in nature. It is similar in the literature: harmless, peaceable, secure and harmonious worlds are shown, or man in paradise, who is unhappy.
In most instances such idyls are written in rhythmic prose or verse, with a dialogical form present in many examples, whereby the idyll can take on dramatic, epic, and lyrical features.
It is always important, however, that it is a question of showing something peaceful and natural, which usually operates in a rural environment. Characteristic is the idyllic poetry of the Bucolic poetry, which refers to a kind of poetry that deals with the peaceful life of the shepherds.
