idyll

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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.

• Schools, Styles, and Forms - idyll: short lyrical poem or prose composition describing pastoral scenes or any charming episode of everyday life
• Vacations and Interludes - idyll: romantic or bucolic interlude
• Utopia - idyll: time and place of peaceful, pastoral life

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

The Shepherdess by Bouguereau, 1889

An idyll or idyl ( /ˈaɪdəl/ or /ˈɪdəl/; from Greek εἰδύλλιον - eidullion, "short poem"^[1]) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls.

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 poet Leopardi, and the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Idylls of the King). Goethe called his poem Hermann and Dorothea - which Schiller considered the very climax in Goethe's production - an idyll. ^[2]

Contents 1 Terminology 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

Terminology

The term is used in music to refer generally to a work evocative of pastoral or rural life such as Edward MacDowell's Forest Idylls, and more specifically to a kind of French courtly entertainment (divertissement) of the baroque era where a pastoral poem was set to music, accompanied by ballet and singing. Examples of the latter are Lully's L'Idylle sur la Paix set to a text by Racine and Desmarets' Idylle sur la naissance du duc de Bourgogne set to a text by Antoinette Deshoulières.^[3]

In the visual arts, an idyll is a painting depicting the same sort of subject matter to be found in idyllic poetry, often with peasant life as its central theme. One of the earliest examples is the early 15th century Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.^[4] The genre was particularly popular in English paintings of the Victorian era.^[5]

See also

• William Wordsworth, The Solitary Reaper
• John Greenleaf Whittier, Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl
• Bucolic
• Et in Arcadia ego
• Arcadia (utopia)

References

1. ^ εἰδύλλιον, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
2. ^ Gjert Vestrheim: "Hellas som ideal", Antikken i ettertiden (s. 170-2), edited by Universitetsforlaget, Oslo 2009, ISBN 978-82-15-01482-1
3. ^ Randel, Don Michael (1999). "Idyll", The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Harvard University Press, p. 312 and passim. ISBN 0-674-00084-6; Sadie, Julie Anne (1998). Companion to Baroque Music. University of California Press, p. 53. ISBN 0-520-21414-5
4. ^ Hagen, Rose-Marie and Hagen, Rainer (2002) What Great Paintings Say, Volume 1. Taschen, p.20. ISBN 3-8228-2100-4
5. ^ Treble, Rosemary (1989). "The Victorian picture of the country" in The Rural idyll (G. E. Mingay, ed.). Routledge, pp. 51-59. ISBN 0-415-03394-2

External links

• The Wiktionary entry for idyll

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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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