Idyll

An idyll (/ˈaɪdɪl/, UK also /ˈɪdɪl/; from Greek εἰδύλλιον (eidullion) 'short poem'; occasionally spelled idyl in American English)^[1]^[2]^[3] is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus's short pastoral poems, the Idylls (Εἰδύλλια).

Unlike Homer, 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 and Catullus, Italian poets Torquato Tasso, Sannazaro and Leopardi, the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Idylls of the King), and Nietzsche's Idylls from Messina. Goethe called his poem Hermann and Dorothea—which Schiller considered the very climax in Goethe's production—an idyll.^[4]

^ "idyll". The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
^ "idyll". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins.
^ εἰδύλλιον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
^ Gjert Vestrheim: "Hellas som ideal", Antikken i ettertiden (s. 170-2), edited by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 2009, ISBN 978-82-15-01482-1

[1] "idyll". The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.

[2] "idyll". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins.

[3] εἰδύλλιον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

[4] Gjert Vestrheim: "Hellas som ideal", Antikken i ettertiden (s. 170-2), edited by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 2009, ISBN 978-82-15-01482-1

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