PASTORAL TjITEHATURE PRO.Nt OPI'l'Z 'I'O (ilOSSNEU. 23 



"Die selu'jiien Pieriniien 

 Die nun durch Opitzen anc-li bocluleutscli reden konnen." 



The other important Renaissance poet, (ieorg Rudolph Weck- 

 herlin,! possessed greater power than Opitz, and may claim the 

 priority in having- introduced tlie Renaissance style into Ger- 

 many. ^ He I'elt keenly the contempt in which German poeti-y 

 was held at the German courts, at the same time appreciating its 

 inferiority, when compared with that of France or England. 

 Early he determined to become a regenerator in this respect, and 

 to make German poetry "presentable at court." In imitation of 

 foreign models he began to sing the praises of princes in Hof-ge- 

 dichte, which lacked great depth, and teemed with mythological 

 allusions. They were received, however, with pleasure by those 

 in whose honor thej' were sung.^ In these Hofgedichte he was 

 imitated by Opitz and other seekers after courtly favors. 



Among Weckherlin's best works are his six shepherd-poems or 

 eclogues,* published in 1648.5 These show, especially m form, 

 the influence of Opitz; but as idyllic literature they are superior 

 to anything that Opitz wrote; in fact, they surpass any pastoral 

 poetry written in Germany during the seventeenth century. They 

 suffer, to be sure, from the ordinary faults of the allegorical pas- 

 toral, with its conceits and trifling sentiment. Yet by introdu- 

 cing into these idyls himselt (under the name of Philidor) and his 

 wife (under the name of Myrta), to whom he was exceedingly de- 

 voted, he has infused into some of this poetry a glow and affec- 



1 Weclilierliu (I.jSJ— 16.5-3) was born thirteen years before Opitz; after travel- 

 ing throiigh Germany. France, and England, lie obtained a position at the court, 

 of Wiirtemberg. He was married to an Englishwoman, Elizabeth Eaworth of 

 Dover; in 1620 he settled down in England, rose to the position of Seci'etary of 

 Foreign Tongues (1644), was superseded by Milton 1649, later becoming Milton"s 

 assistant. 



8 He was the first to introduce the sonnet and the Alexandrine verse in Ger- 

 many. 



3 In a poem of 1610 he could boast that German poetry was no longer de- 

 rided: even the gods (the members of the court) were delighted with it. 



•* Hiirteugedicbte, given in Weckherlin's Gedichte, edited by Herman 

 Fischer, Tiibingen. 1894. 



5 The first eclogue had been pulilished in 1641. 



