John Constable - Wivenhoe Park, Essex - Google Art Project

''Locus amoenus'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "pleasant place") is a

literary topos In classical Greek rhetoric, topos, ''pl.'' topoi, (from grc, τόπος "place", elliptical for grc, τόπος κοινός ''tópos koinós'', 'common place'), in Latin ''locus'' (from ''locus communis''), refers to a method for developing a ...

involving an idealized place of safety or comfort. A ''locus amoenus'' is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, or a group of idyllic islands, sometimes with connotations of Eden or

Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...

Ernst Robert Curtius Ernst Robert Curtius (; 14 April 1886 – 19 April 1956) was a German literary scholar, philologist, and Romance language literary critic, best known for his 1948 study ''Europäische Literatur und Lateinisches Mittelalter'', translated in Eng ...

wrote the concept's definitive formulation in his ''European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages'' (1953).

Characteristics

Maerten Ryckaert - Rocky Pastoral Landscape - WGA20594

A ''locus amoenus'' will have three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often, the garden will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind. It can also be used to highlight the differences between urban and rural life or be a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality. In some works, such gardens also have overtones of the regenerative powers of

human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

marked out by flowers, springtime, and goddesses of love and fertility.

History

Classical

The literary use of this type of setting goes back, in Western literature at least, to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, and it became a staple of the

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...

works of poets such as

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

('' Ars Poetica'', 17) and the commentators on Virgil, such as Servius, recognize that descriptions of ''loci amoeni'' have become a rhetorical commonplace. In

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'', the function of the ''locus amoenus'' is inverted, to form the "locus terribilis". Instead of offering a respite from dangers, it is itself usually the scene of violent encounters.

Medieval

The Middle Ages merged the classical ''locus amoenus'' with biblical imagery, as from the Song of Songs.

Matthew of Vendôme Matthew of Vendôme (Matheus or Matthaeus Vindocinensis) was a French author of the 12th century, writing in Latin, who had been was a pupil of Bernard Silvestris, at Tours, as he himself writes. Works De Vendôme is known for his ''Ars Versific ...

provided multiple accounts of how to describe the ''locus amoenus'', while

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

drew on the

commonplace Commonplace may refer to: *Commonplace book *Literary topos, the concept in rhetoric based on "commonplaces" or standard topics *The everyday life of commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people' ...

for his description of the Earthly Paradise: "Here spring is endless, here all fruits are."

Renaissance

Deverell Walter Howard A Scene from As You Like It

The ''locus amoenus'' was a popular theme in the works of such Renaissance figures as

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

and

Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

made good use of the ''locus amoenus'' in his long poem '' Venus and Adonis''. The trope also fed into his construction, in many plays, of what

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, '' Fearful Symm ...

has called the Shakespearean "green world" – a space that lies outside of city limits, a liminal space where erotic passions can be freely explored, away from civilization and the social order – such as the Forest of Arden in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

''. A mysterious and dark, feminine place, as opposed to the rigid masculine civil structure, the green world can also be found featured in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

'' and ''

Titus Andronicus ''Titus Andronicus'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emul ...

''.

Modern

In the 20th century the ''locus amoenus'' appears in the work of T. S. Eliot, as in the Rose Garden of ''

Burnt Norton ''Burnt Norton'' is the first poem of T. S. Eliot's '' Four Quartets''. He created it while working on his play ''Murder in the Cathedral'', and it was first published in his ''Collected Poems 1909–1935'' (1936). The poem's title refers to t ...

'' and in J. R. R. Tolkien's

Shire Shire is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It is generally synonymous with county. It was first used in Wessex from the begin ...

and Lothlórien.

Sinister doubles

The split-off obverse of the ''locus amoenus'' is the apparently delectable but in fact treacherous garden, often linked to a malign sexuality, as in

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...

's palace or the Bower of Bliss in

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for '' The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen o ...

's ''

Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

''.Northrop Frye, ''Anatomy of Criticism'' (1971) p. 149

References

{{Reflist, 2}

External links

Locus amoenus: Gardens and Horticulture in the Renaissance
Fantasy tropes Medieval literature Literary motifs Utopian fiction