Idyll
Short poem / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Idyl" redirects here. For other uses, see Idyl (disambiguation).
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 Neville idyllic (Idylls of the King), and Idylls from Messina. Goethe called his poem Hermann and Dorothea—which Schiller considered the very climax in Goethe's production—an idyll.[4]