TUB REALISTIC IDYL. 50 



Das Nusskernen) or g'oes back to the chivalry of the Middle Ages 

 for his material {Ulriclt vou Kosslwiin). Never before in German 

 literature liad tlie sinqjle life of the common people been depicted 

 with such force and vigor, with such faithful adherence to reality, 

 as here in Miiller's id\ds descriptive of his Rhenish home. In the 

 German poetry of the Middle Ages we see the beginnings of a 

 Dorf-gese.hichte; but this phase of life had for centuries remained 

 entirel,y disregarded, until Das Schaafschur again taught men to 

 appreciate actual simple life of the present, and thereby gave 

 renewed impulse to the Dovf-geschichte which in the modern novel 

 has proven to be such a i"ich and productive field. ^ Miiller's 

 descriptions are so true to life and full of vigor, so full of small 

 traits of everyday occurrences that these idyls seem almost photo- 

 graphic representations of the life of his native village. His love 

 for folksong and folk-tales crops out everywhere in the many 

 selections from these sources which he introduces. But unfortu- 

 nately, satirical and polemical elements directed against pedantic 

 critics and conventionality, interesting as they are from a literary 

 point of view, weaken the poetic effect of these idyls. ^ 



Maler ^liiller put his idyls on the basis of reality. But there 

 is a certain wildness in his scenes and characterization, a rough- 

 ness in his prose, which shows that he had not overcome the 



1 '"Wir diirfen eine beg'iinstigte Gattung unseres .Jahrhimderts, die Dorfge. 

 Bchichte, axd Miillers Versuche zuriickleiten." See Miillers Werke in Deut. Nat. 

 Lit. edited by August Sauer, p. V. 



~ The following passage illustrates both the vigorous style and polemical 

 tendency of Miillers writings. In Die Scliaafsciivr one of the characters, Walter^ 

 in speaking of ideal shepherds yirtually attacks Gessner and his followers. Walter 

 says: "Der Schulmeister bringt mir weiss der Kukuk was fiir eiu Bueh, heisst 

 Idyllen, Gedrucktes, so von Schafern; schreit, larmt uud jubilu't und gaudirt sich 

 wegen des Zeugs, so drinneu steht; liest mir danu auch hin und weider etliches 

 vor. — Ei freilich, sagt ich; wo giebt's denn Schafer wie diese? Das Schiiter? Das 

 sind mir curiose Leute, die -syeiss der Henker wie leben; fiihlen uicht, wie wir 

 andere Menschen, Hitze oder Kalte: hungern oder dursten nicht; leben nur von 

 Rosenthau und Blumen und was des schonen siissen Zeugs noch mehr ist, das sie 

 bei jeder Gelegenheit einem so widerlieh entgegenplaudern, dass es einem mein 

 Seel' wider dec Mann geht. — Das Pack da ist nicht vou Herzen lustig, nieht von 

 Herzen traurig, alles im Traume nur." etc. See Hettner's Mi'iller p. 87. 



