idyll

1. 1. A short poem or prose piece depicting a rural or pastoral scene, usually in idealized terms.
   2. A narrative poem treating an epic or romantic theme.
2. A scene or event of a simple and tranquil nature.
3. 1. A carefree episode or experience: a summer idyll on the coast of France.
   2. A romantic interlude.

[Latin īdyllium, from Greek eidullion, diminutive of eidos, form, figure.]

For more information on idyll, visit Britannica.com.

Definition: perfect time, paradise
Antonyms: hell on earth

idyll or idyl [id‐il], a short poem describing an incident of country life in terms of idealized innocence and contentment; or any such episode in a poem or prose work. The term is virtually synonymous with pastoral poem, as in Theocritus' Idylls (3rd century BCE). The title of Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1842–85), a sequence of Arthurian romances, bears little relation to the usual meaning. Browning in Dramatic Idyls (1879–80) uses the term in another sense, as a short self‐contained poem.

Adjective: idyllic.

idyll (apparently from the Greek eidyllion, ‘little form’), the name given in Roman times to the poems of Theocritus, which describe some episode or scene from idealized rural life. Hence ‘idyllic’ is used to describe an idealized state or scene of tranquil happiness, particularly of a pastoral nature.

A pastoral poem, usually brief, stressing the picturesque aspects of country life, or a longer narrative poem generally descriptive of pastoral scenes and written in a highly finished style.

"Idylls" redirects here. For the 1992 dream pop album, see Idylls (album).

The Shepherdess by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1889

An idyll or idyl (pronounced /ˈaɪdəl/ or /ˈɪdəl/) (from Greek eidyllion, little picture) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls. Later imitators included the Roman poets Virgil and Catullus, Italian poet Leopardi, and the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

An idyll can also be a kind of painting, usually representing a pastor and his animals in a rural setting. They are depicted in a natural way, with the three components - man, animal and the environment - in a harmonious unity, preventing the picture from being either a landscape, or a genre, or just an image of an animal. Nature in this combination is presented in an unsophisticated, realistic fashion.

The subjects of such pictures are usually simple people living in uncivilised conditions, featuring naïvety in their thinking and yet leading a happy and cheerful life. The approach to the presentation is not humorous, but emotional, sometimes sentimental.

Examples:

• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King
• William Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and Dorothea
• John Greenleaf Whittier, Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl

See also

Look up idyll in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Shepherdess (featured)
• Bucolic
• Et in Arcadia ego
• Arcadia (utopia)
• Pastoral

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - idyl, hyrdedigt

Nederlands (Dutch)
idylle

Français (French)
n. - idylle

Deutsch (German)
n. - Idyll

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (προσωδ., μτφ.) ειδύλλιο

Italiano (Italian)
idillio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - idílio (m)

Русский (Russian)
идиллия, пастораль

Español (Spanish)
n. - idilio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - idyll

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
田园诗, 牧歌

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 田園詩, 牧歌

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 전원시 , 전원문학

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 田園詩, 牧歌, ロマンチックな物語, 田園風景

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أنشودة رعويه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תמונה או תקופה מאושרות, אידיליה, סיפור על רקע של שלווה, בעיקר סיפור אהבה, תיאור קצר של נוף ציורי, בעיקר כפרי‬

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