Idyll

An idyll or idyl (/ˈaɪdəl/ or /ˈɪdəl/; from Greek εἰδύλλιον, eidullion, "short poem") is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the Idylls.

Unlike Homer, Theocritus did not engage in heroes and warfare. His idylls are limited to a small intimate world, and describe scenes from everyday life. Later imitators include the Roman poets Virgil and Catullus, Italian poets Torquato Tasso, Sannazaro and Leopardi, and the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Idylls of the King). Goethe called his poem Hermann and Dorothea — which Schiller considered the very climax in Goethe's production — an idyll.