36 PASTORAL LITERATURE FROM OPITZ TO GESSXER. 



wherefore these plays lack all iinitv of dramatic action, i No 

 real advance can be traced in these dramas;- on the contrary, 

 a tendency towards shallow and sensual triviality manifested 

 itself, so that Glenn laments the deterioration of the literary 

 taste, and calls these plays "SchweiDbirten-spiele."^ 



The importance of these plays in their influence upon the idyl 

 lies m this, that they filled Germany with the atmosphere of this 

 unreal pastoral world. Hence it seemed necessary to the first 

 writers of idyls to retain this ideal hazy shepherd-life in their 

 works in order to make them acceptable to their contemporaries. 



A protest agamst these Scbweinbirten-spiele and a return to 

 an innocent ideal world is seen hi the many works of the time 

 which went back to the patriarchal age of the 

 "Patriarcha- Bible for their motives. These "Patriarchaden, " 

 den." usually epic in form, maj" be traced to the influ- 



ence of Klopstock and even to Milton.* The 

 works emanated from the circle that was opposed to Gottsched,^ 

 and exerted great influence uponGessner. This "seraphic poetry," 

 as Juhan Schmidt calls it, suffers from the common fault of the 

 period, vagueness and lack of characterization. 



The earhest and best written idyls of the period immediately 



1 Bodmer's pastoral drama CimoD (written 1747) is noticeable by its giving 

 reasons for the entrance and exit of the actors, and by its having a definite local- 

 ity, "zum ersten und einzigen ilal in einem Schaierspiel" (XetoUczka, p. 68).- Yet 

 even Bodmer was unable to imbue his characters with any lite or reality. 



2 See Xetoliczka p. 19. 



3 In the year 1746 Gleim writes to Uz as follows: '"Nach meiner Meinunghat 

 in Deutschland nie ein so schlimmer Gescbmack geherrscht als jetzt.- Man macht 

 Schaferspiele. die man mit Recht Schweinhirten-spiele nennen kann.'' See Gleims 

 Leben by Eorte (1811) p. 4-3. 



J Milton's Paradise Lost was translated by J. J. Bodmer 1732, revised 

 edition 1742: this as is well known greatly influenced Klopstock's Messias, three 

 books of which were published 1748. 



5 Bodmer's "Patriarchaden'' were a weak imitation of Klopstock's Messias; 

 they were: Noah 17.50, Jacob and Joseph 17.51, Jacob and Rachel 1752; 

 Klopstock in turn followed his example in Der 7 od Adams 1757, which work 

 Gessner imitated in Der Tod Abels 1758; Maler Miiller showed the influence of 

 his predecessors in Der erschlagene Abel 1775, and Adams erstes Erwachen 

 und ersteseh'ge Nacbte 1778. 



