An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

) is a short

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meaning ...

, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of

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 ...

' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). Unlike

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 ...

, Theocritus did not engage in heroes and warfare. His idylls are limited to a small intimate world, and describe scenes from everyday life. Later imitators include the Roman poets

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 ...

and

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

, Italian poets

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

, Sannazaro and Leopardi, the English poet

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

('' Idylls of the King''), and Nietzsche's '' Idylls from Messina''.

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

called his poem '' Hermann and Dorothea''—which

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

considered the very climax in Goethe's production—an idyll.

Terminology

The term is used in music to refer generally to a work evocative of pastoral or rural life such as

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites '' Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and '' ...

's ''Forest Idylls'', and more specifically to a kind of French courtly entertainment (''

divertissement ''Divertissement'' (from the French 'diversion' or 'amusement') is used, in a similar sense to the Italian ' divertimento', for a light piece of music for a small group of players, however the French term has additional meanings. During the 17th an ...

'') of the baroque era where a pastoral poem was set to music, accompanied by ballet and singing. Examples of the latter are Lully's ''Idylle sur la Paix'' set to a text by

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

and Desmarets' ''Idylle sur la naissance du duc de Bourgogne'' set to a text by

Antoinette Deshoulières Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of ...

. In the visual arts, an idyll is a painting depicting the same sort of subject matter to be found in idyllic poetry, often with rural or peasant life as its central theme. One of the earliest examples is the early 15th century '' Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry''. The genre was particularly popular in English paintings of the Victorian era.Treble, Rosemary (1989). "The Victorian picture of the country" i
''The Rural idyll''
(G. E. Mingay, ed.). Routledge, pp. 51–59.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Genres of poetry Ancient Greek poetry Music genres Visual arts genres

Terminology

See also

References

External links