Eesti bukoolikast
On Estonian Bucolics

Summary/Abstract: Older Estonian literature is often regarded as heir to German literature, while its relations with the European poetic tradition, which is based on the antique, have been studied less. The article attempts to track down traces of classical bucolic in Estonian poetry, starting from a survey of the local bucolics (usually part of nuptial poetry) written in classical languages and publishing the first Estonian translation together with an edition of the original text. The importance of the cento-technique (collage) is also demonstrated for the Latin idyll. The 17th- and 18th-century idyll, written either in German or Estonian, sticks to the formal devices (dialogue) without directly borrowing from the antique, whereas Kristian Jaak Peterson seems to have returned ad fontes (using Theocritus Idyll 8 as a formal example). According to the preliminary study the local history of the genre ends with the anti-idyllic Eesti pastoraal /Estonian pastoral song/ by August Alle.

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