66 THE KEALISTIC IDYL. 



In like manner Voss in the form of the idyl attacks many other 

 real or imagined vices of his times: so he declaims against avarice 

 in De Geldbapers, against superstition in DerRiesenhiigel, against 

 bachelorhood in Das Standcben, against gluttony m Der Abend- 

 schmaus. These may be compared to the modern social story or 

 novel which preaches some special social reform. 



Yet even in these idyls Voss considered the satirical and di- 

 dactic element less important than the idyllic. He wished to make 

 the idyl the reflection of life about him, with which he was per- 

 fectly familiar, of the manners and customs of his home. The 

 very names he gives to his characters, Hans, Michel, Henning, etc., 

 the introduction of popular sayings, and the outspoken language 

 colored with provincialisms show that he had abandoned entirely 

 the "Frauen- und Unschuldswelt" of Gessner and Briickner, and 

 placed himself on the soil of reality. More and more he drops the 

 satirical tendency in his idyls, and turns to the delineation of the 

 sweet joys of legitimate love and of home life. 



The idjds De Winterawend and De Geldbapers^ are two excel- 

 lent Genrebilder from peasant life written in Low German dialect. ^ 

 In these idyls as well as in the ones immediately followmg them 

 the influence of Theocritus becomes more and more apparent. 



1 Claudius (the editor of Wandsbecker Bote) considered De Winterawend 

 as Voss's most perfect idyl. Although the dialect to one not thoroughly used to it 

 conceals the excellence of the poem somewhat, yet one can appreciate the fol- 

 lowing charming song in praise of country life, sung while the members of the 

 family are gathered around the fireplace of a winter-evening. When Peter urges 

 Krischen: 



'■Slug du, ik groele dato, und im Schorsteen orgelt die Ostwind," 

 the latter sings: 



Wat ist doch voiir en quadlig Ding, 

 In Wall und Muhr to lawen! 

 Drum hew ik mi ok vis und vlink 

 AVol up dat Land begawen. 

 As Landmann, law ik gans gewiss 

 Vergnogter, as de Kaiser is." 



2 "Voss hat den Schritt bis zur voller Anwendung des Dialekts gewagt, und 

 so der reichen Dialektdichtung der nachklassischen Zeit den Weg gebahnt." See 

 Sauer's Introd. to Maler Miiller p. 5. 



