Yesterday, I discussed a bit of Eben Jenks Loomis’ pastoral work “A Sunset Idyl,” and I provided a couple of side-by-side comparisons to some of Dickinson’s poems with similar imagery. I made it through twelve lines of Loomis’ poem, so I have about 250 more to go. LOL – no, I’m not really going to go line by line. That would be excruciating, as the work is intensely sappy, doggedly melodramatic, and idyllically Victorian with its focus on idealized romance.
Let me begin today by defining what is an idyl (or idyll). The OED defines the form in literature as “a short poem, descriptive of some picturesque scene or incident, chiefly in rustic life.” The earliest written use of the word traces back to 1601:
“Those amatorious eidyls and eclogues of Theocritus among Greek Poets, of Catullus and Virgil among us.”
P. Holland, translation of Pliny, The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus vol. II. 296
The OED included other examples of usage through the years that I found interesting:
From1859: “The Idyll or Idyl..is, on the whole, Tennyson's favourite form of rhythmical composition.”
J. H. Stirling, Tennyson in Critical Essays (1868) 61
From 1873: “The name of the Idyll sufficiently explains its nature. It is a little picture. Rustic or town life, legends of the gods, and passages of personal experience supply the idyllist with subjects. Generally there is a narrator, and in so far the Idyll is epic; its verse too is the hexameter.”
J. A. Symonds, Studies of Greek Poets x. 306
From 1879: “An Idyl is..not necessarily concerning pastoral matters, though from the prevalence of such topics in the idyls of Theocritus, the general notion is that idyllic and pastoral are almost convertible terms.”
World 16 April
Then, in 1903 came Eben Loomis’ “A Sunset Idyl" (the complete book is HERE), and it is quite the hodgepodge of rhythmical composition, schmaltzy reverie, rustic town life, personal recollections, and more.
Do you remember Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor, an establishment that was around from 1963 to 2019? A hallmark feature on their menu was the “World Famous Farrell’s Zoo,” eight pounds of ice cream, bananas, whipped cream, cherries, nuts, and plastic toy animals delivered to your table on a stretcher to the sound of blaring sirens, clanging fire bells, and drumrolls.
Let me begin today by defining what is an idyl (or idyll). The OED defines the form in literature as “a short poem, descriptive of some picturesque scene or incident, chiefly in rustic life.” The earliest written use of the word traces back to 1601:
“Those amatorious eidyls and eclogues of Theocritus among Greek Poets, of Catullus and Virgil among us.”
P. Holland, translation of Pliny, The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus vol. II. 296
The OED included other examples of usage through the years that I found interesting:
From1859: “The Idyll or Idyl..is, on the whole, Tennyson's favourite form of rhythmical composition.”
J. H. Stirling, Tennyson in Critical Essays (1868) 61
From 1873: “The name of the Idyll sufficiently explains its nature. It is a little picture. Rustic or town life, legends of the gods, and passages of personal experience supply the idyllist with subjects. Generally there is a narrator, and in so far the Idyll is epic; its verse too is the hexameter.”
J. A. Symonds, Studies of Greek Poets x. 306
From 1879: “An Idyl is..not necessarily concerning pastoral matters, though from the prevalence of such topics in the idyls of Theocritus, the general notion is that idyllic and pastoral are almost convertible terms.”
World 16 April
Then, in 1903 came Eben Loomis’ “A Sunset Idyl" (the complete book is HERE), and it is quite the hodgepodge of rhythmical composition, schmaltzy reverie, rustic town life, personal recollections, and more.
Do you remember Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor, an establishment that was around from 1963 to 2019? A hallmark feature on their menu was the “World Famous Farrell’s Zoo,” eight pounds of ice cream, bananas, whipped cream, cherries, nuts, and plastic toy animals delivered to your table on a stretcher to the sound of blaring sirens, clanging fire bells, and drumrolls.
“A Sunset Idyl” strikes me as “Loomis’ Zoo,” eight pounds of evening breezes, mighty clouds, bright fields, dark forests, distant hilltops, vapory mists, starry nights, murmuring streams, turbid rills, shadowy vales, sudden waves, dewy air, thunder and lightning and more. To be honest, about the only thing missing is the moon. Seriously – why isn’t the moon in there?
In a nutshell, the poem begins with drifting mists athwart the hills. A mighty cloud arises and storms the earth. Suddenly, the squall subsides, sunshine floods the west, and the speaker of the poem stands on the span of a bridge – and dreams. In his vision, he sees a tempest similar to that which he’d just encountered; however, when the winds subside, he sees a hill with a noble oak, a house, and the love of his life. He recalls how he met his soulmate (when she came tripping o'er the shadowy lea), reports how new witching charms made her lovelier each day, and recounts how they would meet atop the hill for sunset trysts. Oh, and somewhere in there he intones an ode to never-ending love. Abruptly, a sudden sound breaks his reverie, and he wends his way home in the darkness. He knows, though, that – bet your bottom dollar – the sun’ll come out tomorrow.
LOL – okay, so I slipped in a bit of lyric from “Tomorrow” from the Broadway musical “Annie.” I couldn’t help myself!
Besides Loomis’ schmaltzy account and the poem’s jam-packed pastoral imagery, I chortled at a few peculiar lines in the poem which struck me as odd; among them are these:
* The opening lines (which I’ve already mentioned):
All day the drifting clouds had trailed along
Their gray, cool wreaths of mist athwart the hills
I love that use of “athwart,” and found a similar use in Tennyson’s “A Lover’s Tale":
the cloud of unforgotten things,
That sometimes on the horizon of the mind
Lies folded, often sweeps athwart in storm
* After the wind fell silent and a few low clouds glowed with intensest light, Loomis said this:
The river flowed like liquid chrysoprase
Chrysoprase? Seriously?
Okay, I best not get too haughty, because I just checked the online Dickinson archive for “chrysoprase,” and guess which other poet used the word -- in two poems? LOL – I’ll follow up on that tomorrow…or soon.
By the way, take a look at when the written use of chrysoprase peaked in usage – right when Loomis published “A Sunset Idyl” – so he was shredding that wave!
In a nutshell, the poem begins with drifting mists athwart the hills. A mighty cloud arises and storms the earth. Suddenly, the squall subsides, sunshine floods the west, and the speaker of the poem stands on the span of a bridge – and dreams. In his vision, he sees a tempest similar to that which he’d just encountered; however, when the winds subside, he sees a hill with a noble oak, a house, and the love of his life. He recalls how he met his soulmate (when she came tripping o'er the shadowy lea), reports how new witching charms made her lovelier each day, and recounts how they would meet atop the hill for sunset trysts. Oh, and somewhere in there he intones an ode to never-ending love. Abruptly, a sudden sound breaks his reverie, and he wends his way home in the darkness. He knows, though, that – bet your bottom dollar – the sun’ll come out tomorrow.
LOL – okay, so I slipped in a bit of lyric from “Tomorrow” from the Broadway musical “Annie.” I couldn’t help myself!
Besides Loomis’ schmaltzy account and the poem’s jam-packed pastoral imagery, I chortled at a few peculiar lines in the poem which struck me as odd; among them are these:
* The opening lines (which I’ve already mentioned):
All day the drifting clouds had trailed along
Their gray, cool wreaths of mist athwart the hills
I love that use of “athwart,” and found a similar use in Tennyson’s “A Lover’s Tale":
the cloud of unforgotten things,
That sometimes on the horizon of the mind
Lies folded, often sweeps athwart in storm
* After the wind fell silent and a few low clouds glowed with intensest light, Loomis said this:
The river flowed like liquid chrysoprase
Chrysoprase? Seriously?
Okay, I best not get too haughty, because I just checked the online Dickinson archive for “chrysoprase,” and guess which other poet used the word -- in two poems? LOL – I’ll follow up on that tomorrow…or soon.
By the way, take a look at when the written use of chrysoprase peaked in usage – right when Loomis published “A Sunset Idyl” – so he was shredding that wave!
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* Describing the love of his life, Loomis wrote this:
Her heavy, rich brown hair,
Shot through by sunshine with a ray of gold,
Lay in great masses on her shapely head
Her shapely head? I thought that was weird.
* When the speaker’s darling comes tripping o'er the shadowy lea, he reports this:
I can hear her flying feet
Bending down the clover sweet
**sigh** Just another goofy overly-dramatic detail.
* The poem also overflows with soppy passages like this:
A wave of dewy air breathed from the west
And, toying with the myriad-needled pine,
Broke in a low sweet pulse of dream-like song.
Our hearts were thrilled with a diviner life
In the deep, starry silence; made more deep
By the faint wind-song from the shadowy tree.
Then, when the stillness pressed our throbbing hearts,
Until the quiet grew almost to pain,
Some thought too deep for words alone to speak,
Sprang to her lips in a low gush of song.
If/when you get a chance to read a "A Sunset Idyl," let me know what you think. Again, the complete work is HERE.
Her heavy, rich brown hair,
Shot through by sunshine with a ray of gold,
Lay in great masses on her shapely head
Her shapely head? I thought that was weird.
* When the speaker’s darling comes tripping o'er the shadowy lea, he reports this:
I can hear her flying feet
Bending down the clover sweet
**sigh** Just another goofy overly-dramatic detail.
* The poem also overflows with soppy passages like this:
A wave of dewy air breathed from the west
And, toying with the myriad-needled pine,
Broke in a low sweet pulse of dream-like song.
Our hearts were thrilled with a diviner life
In the deep, starry silence; made more deep
By the faint wind-song from the shadowy tree.
Then, when the stillness pressed our throbbing hearts,
Until the quiet grew almost to pain,
Some thought too deep for words alone to speak,
Sprang to her lips in a low gush of song.
If/when you get a chance to read a "A Sunset Idyl," let me know what you think. Again, the complete work is HERE.
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