The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern TimesBiese, Alfred
History
The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times
Biese, Alfred
Nature; Nature in literature
And a didactic poem by Luigi Alamanni (born 1495), called
_Husbandry_, has: 'O blessed is he who dwells in peace, the actual
tiller of his joyous fields, to whom, in his remoteness, the most
righteous earth brings food, and secure in well-being, he rejoices in
his heart. If thou art not surrounded by society rich with purple and
gems, nor with houses adorned with costly woods, statues, and
gold;... at least, secure in the humble dwelling of wood from the
copse hard by, and common stones collected close at hand, which thine
own hand has founded and built, whenever thou awakenest at the
approach of dawn, thou dost not find outside those who bring news of
a thousand events contrary to thy desires.... Thou wanderest at will,
now quickly, now slowly, across the green meadow, through the wood,
over the grassy hill, or by the stream. Now here, now there ... thou
handlest the hatchet, axe, scythe, or hoe.... To enjoy in sober
comfort at almost all seasons, with thy dear children, the fruits of
thine own tree, the tree planted by thyself, this brings a sweetness
sweet beyond all others.'
These didactic writings, inspired by Virgilian Georgics, show a
distinct preference for the idyllic.
Sannazaro's _Arcadia_ went through sixty editions in the sixteenth
century alone. Tasso reckoned with the prevalent taste of his day in
_Aminta_, which improved the then method of dramatizing a romantic
idyll. The whole poem bears the stamp of an idealizing and romantic
imagination, and embodies in lyric form his sentimental idea of the
Golden Age and an ideal world of Nature. Even down to its details
_Aminta_ recalls the pastorals of Longos; and Daphne's words (Act I.
Scene 1) suggest the most feeling outpourings of Kallimachos and
Nonnos:
And callest thou sweet spring-time
The time of rage and enmity,
Which breathing now and smiling,
Reminds the whole creation,
The animal, the human,
Of loving! Dost thou see not
How all things are enamoured
Of this enamourer, rich with joy and health?
Observe that turtle-dove,
How, toying with his dulcet murmuring,
He kisses his companion. Hear that nightingale
Who goes from bough to bough
Singing with his loud heart, 'I love!' 'I love!'...
The very trees
Are loving. See with what affection there,
And in how many a clinging turn and twine,
The vine holds fast its husband. Fir loves fir,
The pine the pine, and ash and willow and beech
Each towards the other yearns, and sighs and trembles.
That oak tree which appears
So rustic and so rough,
Even that has something warm in its sound heart;
And hadst thou but a spirit and sense of love,
Thou hadst found out a meaning for its whispers.
Now tell me, would thou be
Less than the very plants and have no love?
One seems to hear Sakuntala and her friends talking, or Akontios
complaining. So, too, when the unhappy lover laments (Aminta):
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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