70 THE REALISTK^ IDYL. 



characters, a lack of individuality in the poetic treatment, a lack 

 of action in the whole plot, but in spite of this or perhaps, in 

 consequence of it, we feel at once soothed, calmed and at home 

 in this peaceful atmosphere and in the presence of these attractive 

 people, whom we after all would not care to have otherwise. 

 Goethe often read these idyls to his circle in Weimar, and we are 

 told that certain passages moved him to tears, and he would 

 close the book with the words: "Eine heilige Stelle." 



In these idyls Voss like Homer describes family life, furniture, 

 the kitchen utensils, and household duties. The description of 

 nature occupies a much more prominent place than in either Ho- 

 mer or Theocritus, as might be expected in modern poetry with 

 its deeper feeling for and appreciation of nature in all its moods. 

 But the dessription is not too prominent in these idyls, for we feel 

 that it is an essential element of the poem: these surroundings 

 are a fitting and necessary background to these characters. 



At the advice of Gleim, Voss changed these three idyls and 

 combined them into one, publishing the whole in 1795, under the 

 title of Luise, ein landliches Gedicht in drei Idyllen. This change 

 and amalgamation made of the unpretentious idyls a pretentious 

 epic poem.' What in the idyl had been minor shortcomings, 

 (such as the comparative lack of action and of individual charac- 

 terization) ui the larger epic strikes the reader as gross blemishes. 

 Furthermore, the simple natural tone has given way to one more 

 pretentious and laompous.^ The old realistic parson speaks 

 and moralizes much more than in the original idyls, he has become 

 the main figure, as the poet wished to express his own philosophy 



1 The original idyls had been increased by 468 ver.ses (from 1392 to 1860) 

 to form the epic. And with every new edition Voss showed a misguided desire 



. to improve his work by adding to their length, and by changing the simple tone 

 to one more stilted. In the final edition, the Luise had been incrrased to 2825 

 verses, one quarter of the length of the Odyssey! In almost every case the 

 original form is the more simple, natural, and pleasing. 



2 The "Kaffee" of the original had become "Trank der Levant," etc. 

 See Sauer's Voss, p. 56. ' 



