72 



THE REALISTIC IDYL. 



When Herwann and Dorothea was about to appear, he wrote in 

 a letter to Yoss: "Ich werde nicht verschweigen, wie ich bei dieser 

 Arbeit unserm Yolke und Ihnen schuldig bin, Sie haben mir den 

 Weg gezeigt und es mir Mut gemacht." And the pubhc acknow- 

 ledgement did not fail to appear. It occurs in the beautiful Elegie, 

 the prologue to Goethe's epos: 



"Uns begleiche des Dichters Geist, der seine Luise 

 Easch dem wiirdigen Freund unz zu entziicken verband." 

 With the discussion of the idyls of Voss, and their development 

 into the idyllic epos, we have arrived at the end of our study. 

 From now on idyllic literature in Germany as elsewhere seeks a 

 wider channel in which to flow, namely the Borfgescbicbte or 

 peasant novel, of which Gosse, in discussing a work of this nature 

 byBjornson, says that it "is a recrudescence of the idyl in its most 

 primitive form, a recapture of the early charm of bucolic poetry." 



TABLE NO. 1. 



Number of works published ix Germany dukixg the 17th axd 

 18th centuries coxtaixig pastoral axd idyllic elements. 





05 



C5 

 CO 



1 



o 





CO 

 CO 



1 



o 



CD 

 CD 

 r-t 



CI 

 T-H 



a. 



00 



X 



r-1 



? 



o 



CD 



i 



C5 



I 



1-H 



I 



CO 



o 

 ■* 



i-i 



C5 

 tH 



I 



CO 



7-f 



1 



o 

 t- 



r-1 



T 



o 



CO 



t- 



1 



o 

 cs 

 t- 



Romances 



1 



5 



6 



h 



li 









1 









1 







Drama 



2 



h 



4 



4 



2 



4 



3 





I 



1 





3 



28 



8 



4 1 5 



1 





Pastorals 

 (many difficult 

 to classify) 







9 



16 



16 



9 



4 



2 



4 





5 



4 



10 



1.5 



14 



U 



4 



2 



Praise of 

 Nature 





2 



1 



2 



1 





1 







1 





2 



1 

 7 9 



12 



6 



1 





Idyls & 

 Eclogues 







3 



1 





* 







1 







2 



2 



7 



10 



22 



10 



5 



Critical 























1 



5 



2 



4 



1 1=^ 



See page page 15. The flood af pastoral literature may be represented by two 

 waves, the latter very much larger than the former. 



