62 THE REALISTIC IDYL. 



ancient pastoral poetry. The .study of the Greek literature, e.spe- 

 cially of Theocritus and Homer, determined both the form and 

 the character of his idyls. 



One reason why the idyl attracted Voss was the sense of his 

 poetic limitations. He felt that he did not possess the originality 

 and the creative power to produce great mastei-pieces in epic or 

 dramatic poetry. Least of all was he a lyric poet. But if any 

 one of these forms by itself was beyond his poetic powers, might 

 he not accomplish something of value and of lasting value in the 

 less pretentious idyl, into which he might introduce elements fi-om 

 all these forms of poetry? 



Through the study of Theocritus and Homer, Yoss came to the 

 conclusion, that the hexameter was best fitted to give dignity and 

 stateliness to his poetry. ^ But of greater consequence was their 

 influence on Yoss in his choice of subject-matter. Like Theocritus 

 he wished to depict reahty, not an imagiaary shepherd-world.'^ 

 But his was not a slavish imitation; in the spirit of Theocritus he 

 embodied in poetic form the idyllic features of his own time and of 

 his native country ^vith their local coloring and in their definite 

 forms. He studied conditions about him, in order to depict them 

 truthfully. So ui March. 1775, he wi-ote to Ernestine Boie that 

 he intended to visit Dithmarschen •'■'um Studien zu Dietmar- 

 scher Idylle zu machen."' He adds: •'Teh giaube dass diese Dich- 



1 Klopstoek's hexameters were from a technical point of view verr halting; 

 many of them can hardly be scanned. It is A'oss"s great merit that he first reduced 

 the German hexameter to sound metrical rules and fully naturalized it in German 

 poetry. The metrical dilettanteism of Goethe and Schiller advanced under Voss"s 

 influence to a mastery of this form of which Herbst says: '■'Unsere neuere Kunst- 

 poesie in charakterischen Hauptzweigen hat sieh recht eigentlich am Hexameter, 

 deni Culturrers im eminenter Sinn , aufgerichtet." (Herbsts Voss, 11. 88). 



"Wer eine wahre Form erschafft.'" says W. von Humboldt with reference to 

 Voss, "der ist der Dauer seiner Arbeit gewiss."' 



2 In a letter to Briiekner written while at Gottingen he says: ■'Ich habe vieles 

 uber die Idylle mit dir zu reden. Theokrit hat mich zuerst auf die eigentliche 

 Bestimmung dieser Dichtungsart aufmerksam gemacht. Man sieht bei ihm nichts 

 Ton ideaUscher Welt und verfeinerten Schafern. Er hat sicilische Xatur nnd 

 sicilische Schater, die oft so pobelhait sprechen, Avie unsere Bauern." See Kober- 

 stein Y. 6-3. 



