Book Description

Excerpt from The Feeling for Nature in English Pastoral Poetry If the word pastoral be a generic term denoting a literary mode and not a special literary form, its comprehensive possibilities for an appreciation of nature are at once evident, and to inquire how far the poets have succeeded in using their opportunity, is our present task. It is upon the results of this inquiry that our definition of the pastoral must be based, rather than upon any preconceived theory as to what they ought to have done. Among the Greeks where the star of pastoral song first arose, the term idyl which was the earliest literary form to exhibit the pastoral motive, sufficiently explains what they conceived to be its nature. The idyl of the Alexandrians is a little picture of rustic or town life, made up of legends of the gods, or passages from personal experience, the poem flowing in a somewhat reflective strain. In the idyls of the Greeks we hear nature speaking with a human voice conveying impressions of rustic emotion and environ ment, and in a delicate, simple, but none the less poetic manner. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.