The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times

yed and giving way to the new. But there are landmarks in the general development of culture, which mark off definite periods a

ctive to note the great likeness between these two epochs. The limits of their culture will stand out more clearly, if, by the aid o

is true that the theory of life which now began to prevail was not absolutely new; the stages of growth in a nation's culture are nev

brought about the transition from antiquity and the medi?val to the specifically modern; the Roman Empire inherited Hellenism, the Reformation the Renaissance. Both had their roots in the past, both made new growth which blossomed

of past greatness. The Latin language too was easy to an Italian, and the numerous monuments and documents in which the country abounded facilitated a return to the past. With this tendency, other elements--the popular character which time had now greatly modified, the poli

he Nibelungenlied and the Minnesingers, and Dante and Petrarch. In both cases one finds oneself in a new world of thought and feeling, where each and all bears the stamp of change, in matters political and social as well as artistic. If,

; in the Renaissance, the veil, woven of mysticism and delusion, which had obscured medi?val faith, thought, and feeling. Every man recognized him

rve them only as one among many; he must needs develop his own powers. Private affairs bega

expression; one would have looked in vain among them for the diversities in contemporary types shewn by comparing Alexander's vivid

rckhar

figures meet us each in its own special shape and dress.... Despotism, as we have already seen, fostered in the highest degree the individuality, no

try is the whole world,' said Dante; and Ghiberti: 'Only he who has learned everything is nowhere a stranger; robbed of h

refinement of gallantry and erotic feeling. The sensuous flourished no less in Greek times than in those of Boccaccio; but the most characteristic peculiarity of Hellenism was its intentional revelling in feeling--its sentimentality.

ism as its passion for fame, was aided by the widening of the physical and mental horizons through the Crusades and voyages of discovery. Dante was not only the greatest poet of his time, but an astronomer; Petrarch was geo

omparative study of plants and animals. Italy claims to be the first creator of botanical gardens.... princes and wealthy men, in laying out their plea

hnical and artistic facility of all sorts, entered into the whole life ar

shed tears ... more than once, when he was ill, the

mountain, lake or spring, dry rocks or plains, wood and valley. Therefore he cared for varie

paradeisoi. Writers drew most of their comparisons from it. In the Renaissance, Petrarch did the same, and animals often served as emblems

the external world, and sensitiveness brought about a sentimen

the extension and enhancement of the Hellenic. Burckhardt overlooked the fact that beautiful

a genuine hearty enjoyment of the external world was again in existence, and found lively expression in the minstrelsy of different nations, which gives evidence of the

only for certain stereotyped phases. Of the individuality of a lands

ad of the Minnesingers in this respect, a

d. Latin poetry lives again in them, with a freshness the Carlovingian Renaissance never reached; they are medi?val in form, but full of a frank enjoyment of life and its pleasures, which hardly any n

be less a work of God for man's delight, than a dangerous means of seduction. 'They wandered through Nature with timid misgiving, and their anxious fantasy depicted forms of terror or marvellous rescues.[3] The idyllic pleasure in the simple charms of Nature, especially in the monastery garden of the Carlovingia

the space; but the theme is treated with greater variety

runs

h vernal flowers. The harmony of the birds' returning

oice that winter is

mur cometh with the spring; the grove is clad in leaves. The nightingale is singing, the fields are gay with divers hues. It is sw

, for Nature and amorous passion a

still, to sport in the grass with a fair maiden.... O, to what changeful moods is the heart of the lover prone! As

er eyes are compared to stars, her colour to lilies and snow, her mo

listened to my Thisbe's talk, the talk I love and long for; and we spoke of the sweet interc

seen the rose of May; I have seen the star that is brighter than all other, that

harming is the poem Phyllis and Flora. Actual landscape is

ed and babbled as it went. And that the sun's heat might not harm the maidens, near the stream there was a spreading pine, decked with leaves and spreading far its interweaving branches, nor could the heat penetrate from without. The maidens sat, the grass supplied the seat.... They intend to go to Love's Paradise: at the entrance of the grove a rivulet murmurs; the breeze is fragrant with myrrh and balsam; t

deepening effect of Nature

re; hence the further course of the Renaissance displayed all

, earth, hell, and paradise in the Divina Commedia, he rarely described real Nature, and then mostly in comparisons; yet, as Humboldt pointed out,

vanquishing t

fore it,-so t

the trembli

vivid

e

nged to water.

sses came all

nd, as mightiest

iver with such

naught stay

estial forest, w

eenness the ne

ager now to r

nd, forthwith

ampaign leis

the ground th

ur breathed.

tted never,

temples gent

luence, at whi

lean'd trembli

holy mountain

o disordered;

p the feather

wonted art, an

ours of prime, a

s, that to the

ven as from br

iny forests

olls the gat

ath from his

south. Alread

far into tha

e, I could no

nter'd; when

y a rill, whi

ppling waters

ed from i

the heaven

ook

likeness of

from whose ambe

fulgence, as

either side, pa

w fair; and,

and anon out

ct with life; a

like to rubies

unk with odour

ous flood, fro

, still an

enes, perfect in truth to Nature, and shewin

g, there

of a sea in

rring

fer

ves to steer h

of my genius

o leave so cru

gato

mall bark have f

en on the adv

el, that singi

rad

pread and belly

collapsed, if

d down dropp'd

fer

pon the ho

ck vapours Mars

west, over th

gato

ore t

vision down, a

cendent, thus

eq

gato

shine

nightly cold,

ed her

came o'er the

terrible, a s

tremble, as

m conflicting

me forest drivin

anches, beats the

ward pressing,

e, while beasts a

fer

by the frost

ed, when day has b

lded on their

nting vigour

fer

the light au

her following,

honours on th

fer

, frogs, a bull, falcons, fishes, larks, and rooks are a

y tender

rd, who 'mid t

, sat darkling t

t brood; impa

ks, and to bring

est, unconscio

ime prevenien

their couch, wi

un, nor, ever

m the east h

the dam

nge that this escaped Humboldt in his famous sketch in the second vo

if many centuries lay between; but rather as if notes first struc

ern--modern, that is, in his whole feeling and mode of thought, in his sentimentality and his melancholy, and in the fact that 'more than most before and after him, he tried to know himself and to hand on to others what he knew.' (Geiger.) It is an appropriate remark of Hettner's, that the phrase, 'he has discovered his heart,' might serve as a motto for Petrarch's songs and sonnets. He knew that he had that sentimental disorder which he called 'acedia,' and wished to be rid of it. This word has a history of its own. To the Greeks, to Apollonius, for instance

it meant

a

ir, made glads

the good an

arch is well defined by Geiger as being ne

own painful unrest, from the knowledge that the results of striving do not express the effort made--that human life is but a ceaseless and unworthy rotation, in which the bad are always to the fore, and the good fall behind ... as pessimism, melancholy, world pa

sadness, what Goethe called 'Wonne

pleasure huma

ntimes o

new thi

at will in cl

ose whom sorr

with so

, you ma

ars, and heart is

onne

leasure now i

oh fruitle

, who'st led me

ll, with pain

I yet

owed with deadl

t I fro

lt me my first

I slain f

sort of mercy

shall i'

perish flinchin

, mysel

nts; my porti

hs, and de

of death the

eal, to match

m Nature; for the sympathy for her which goes wi

t season of

rout and, as it

wild pa

nge

an into green

er's cold no

de

that b

es were mad

noonday li

en breaking in his heart, and spr

h impossibilities, like t

will have no

arken, fish on

yonder, where f

f Tigris and

ll here have

lov

same comparis

res throng not

ve the circl

never yet be

reside not i

hath neither f

houghts outnumbe

st interpreter of Nature, especially in its woes. The woes of love are

ve not seen

clearest of al

ow I have no

ith so many s

spect in more

when I took u

wed, for noth

.... (Son

eyelid's tran

hine my stars

e love thoughts

else choose warmt

aculous, whe

ery flower, o

nness down he

net

appy flowers, o

y in passive m

weet words hear's

here her shapel

en leaves, which n

iolets, and wo

l that sun's b

ll your pride and

htsome, oh th

er fair face an

irtue from thei

ach clear an

e moves. (S

ll Nais in

or trembling

ht and sof

th, and stone; y

hened 'neath her

es the fields a

d the winds and

erance u

e that seeketh

net

white foot on

s the gentle

opens and reviv

elicate palm t

net

her, hearing

laintive bird not

murmurs through

in lone silenc

dowy woods I

tow'r'd my sun

net

ke Goe

when the bright

s the

ountain in the m

k of t

n the tossing wa

up th

ne wood and li

l is st

ch sings

when in youth

re itself in s

in this age

rl, who's now

he sun arise

the wo

in some fine he

r boughs or v

me the winter'

ndly stars are

violet and g

e) which, at my

ell that yet he

licate fine

tle damsel's lim

ls a feeble sn

smiteth in seq

now! Thou, Lov

air and more t

rom afar makes

saw after

ars in the ca

ck between the

se lovely eyes a

on roses wh

allen, where i

wn, fresh culled

eemed her aspe

the year

hite and yellow

with re

lace in which

outspread, and str

number all

e waters in

ht, when in th

ncy to rec

ys this Bea

ight, while stand

er I never cou

r me all paths

loquacity. He was yet more eloquent and intense, more f

imagination conjures up--a wild creature torn in pieces by two

ood, out of a

ater, mildly

roached not

epherd nor th

s and the nym

ein I took my

) the gaping

lace, and all cle

eves my heart u

fair a lad

yet on her I b

owers she walke

pent by the he

nguished as the

the blither d

d leaves, his g

chiding, Phil

ing all white

eadows, heaven

w doth Love his

th, now breathe

eature plans

w return the

from its last r

ore its keys

ttle birds and

cts of ladies,

d and uncouth

net

le, who maket

d belike or n

ender are his

skies are with

ong he seems wi

lot recall

net

very

y deep sighs a

de

s, oh woods, oh s

my life's o'e

h you've heard

de

my foot

raptur

re that darling

r I cull

r that

il, where wonte

he stream

d at tim

and flower-emb

ntive warblin

ummer breezes

mur of bright

n and flowery

ting love I

th conceals, whom

e, and know w

my sighs, th

thou,' she pi

ay before

net

the branches

flowers, grasse

ove for eve

net

world, oh Death,

ould be earth a

net

ern way, and Nature in the modern way drawn into

ays of Hellenism, to enjoy the plea

my darling

ll, could I my

with tears my p

net

Schiller

perfect, wher

at deforms

ght to thought, f

en all ways th

quiet of my

ore, or fountai

between two s

ted soul doth t

ights, in bria

every dwellin

my eyes a d

pine or hillock

lt, and on the

e I picture fr

met my sight, (Oh who'll beli

ms, on some gr

hite cl

portrait there

n Truth

lusion, froze

n, on living r

, and weep and w

my though

air which hence

is so near, y

hat Alp,

ove is gladdest

eet me where th

ling airs

scented laurel

art and she th

e 1

s Goethe's in Knowest

d, the least fr

h my footsteps

ry glances r

human trace im

net

litude I've

ld and forest k

net

e each other; and Petrarch; like Dante, took scientific

tellectual pursuits; it was to combine the two that he lived in learned retirement at

a letter from Vaucluse: 'O if you could imagine the delight with which I breathe here, free and

h book of the Africa, were rare with him; but, as we have already seen, he admired mountain scenery. He refers to

ners, though his 'romantic' feeling was restrained within characteristic limits. In a letter of April 26, 1335, interesting both as to the period and the personality of the writer, he described to Dionisius da Borgo San Sepolchro the ascent of Mt. Ventoux near Avignon which he made when he was thirty-two, and greatly enjoyed, though t

first, owing to the unaccustomed quality of the air and the effect of the great sweep of view spread out before me, I stood like one dazed. I beheld the clouds under our feet, and what I had read of Athos and Olympus seemed less incredible as I myself witnessed the s

at ten years ago, that day, he had quitted Bologna a young man, and turned a longing gaze towards his native country: he opened a

as, and roaring torrents and the ocean, and the course o

ld not understand why he closed the book and

n St Augustine suddenly occurred to him, and he started blaming himself for admiring earthly things so much. 'I was amazed ... angry with myself for marvelling but now at earthly things, when I ought to have learnt long ago that nothing save the soul was marvellous, and that to the greatness of the soul nought else was great'; and he closed with an explanation

der we have nothing; but the Persian King Darius, in his expedition against the Scythians in the region of Chalcedon, ascended the mountain on whi

onauts as they ascended the Dindymon, and elsewhere recalls the view from Mt. Olympus. These are the oldest descriptions

literature, the re-birth of the classic, must also be taken into account. For the Renaissance attitude towards Nature was closely allied to the Roman, and therefore to the Hellenic; and the fact that the first modern man arose on Italian soil was due to the reviva

cription of a wood in the Ameto,[9] and especially in Fiammetta, in which he

d was about half a mile in circumference, surrounded by six hills of moderate height, on each of which was a palace built in the form of a little castle.... The part that looks toward the south was planted as thick as they could stand together with vines, olives, almonds, cherries, figs, and most other kinds of fruit trees, and on the northern side were fine plantations of oak, ash, etc., so tall and regular that nothing could be more beautiful. The vale, which had only that one entrance, was full of firs, cypress trees

rows of love, reach the level of Hellenism in this respect. Yet it advanced with the Renaissance. Pope Pius II. (?neas Sylvius) was the first to describe actual landscape (Italian), not mer

his day. Antiquity and Nature were his two passions, and the most beautiful desc

country round h

gently sloping hills, either planted with homely trees or vines, or ploughed for corn, look down on pleasant valleys in which grow crops, or green fields are to be seen, and brooks are even flowing. There are, too, many plantations, either natur

s for ever finding new reasons to prolong his villeggiatura, despite the grumbling of his court, which had to put up with wre

stic solitudes was a riddle to those around h

adow on the bank of the river Aino, whence he could see the clear waters. There are some meadows in a retired glen, watered by many streams; Pius often rested in these meadows near the luxuriant streams and the shady trees

iful view was to be seen, and also from a neighbouring mountain on the other side of the river, still cove

and, old man as he was, gives this appreciati

the eyes. It was the month of May, and everything was green. On one side were the smiling fields, on the other the smiling woods, in which the birds made sweet harmony. At early dawn he used to walk into the fields to catch the exquisite breeze before the day should grow hot, and gaze at the green crops and the flowering f

ed to a castle charmingly placed on the lake of Bolsena, where 'there is a shady circular walk in the vineyard under the big grapes; stone steps shaded by the vine leaves lead down to t

iena as far as the Pistorian Alps. To the north a variety of hills and the pleasant green of woods presents itself, stretch

time, shooting birds

reen meadows where there were no thorns to wound the feet, and no snakes

alls himself, he includes both the details of the nea

of it only seemed to increase;

fertile fields, and honoured by the river Tiber, which, drawing its coils along like a snake, divides Tuscia from Umbria, and, close to the cit

lake storm, during an excursi

uld have heard the sea, as it were, groaning and wailing. So great was the force of the winds, that nothing seemed able to resist it; they raged and alternately fled and put one another to rout, they overturned woods and

ake at res

Nemorian lake, with its crystal-clear waters, reflects the faces of those that look into it, and fills a deep basin. The descent from the top to the bottom is wooded. The poetic genius

the view from Monte Cavo was his favourite, from which he could see Terracina, t

eater part of the plains. Then, moreover, Rome presented itself fully to the eyes, together wi

ed ?neas Sylvius to the country and gave him this ready pen for ever

with Roman literature. We know that the re-awakening of classic literature exerted an influence upon the direction of the feeling for Nature in general, and, for the rest, very various elements coalesced. Like times produce like streams of tendency, and Hel

elopment of the feeling for Nature from classic to modern; they are the ancestors of our

he feeling of the period up to the sixteenth century than from any poetry in other countries. Even

alth of colour, Homer by purity of form and beauty of composition. Ariosto achieves through general effect, Homer through perfection of form. Nature is more naive in Homer, the subject is paramount, and the singer disappears; in Ariost

lated for effect, are more subjective, and far more highl

once sensuous, sentimental, and chivalrous. He is given to describing

Canto of

thorns, vermi

n a lovely b

oth in the brig

fty oaks from

ckest shades t

middle for a

es and boughs are

are impervio

Hippogriff carries

he searched the wh

re delightful

streams, and ban

ains, by cultur

of the cedar

myrtle, of the

where fruit and

arious forms,

k shades agains

ays, afford

les, devoid o

uttered, pouring

ies white an

eshened by t

en, with his pr

e, the rabbit a

rubies, topaze

rysolites, an

ow'rs, which did

glad plains, pa

grass, that i

ralds could the

liage of the t

flow'r eterna

, sing yellow,

n small feathere

s less limp

akes or murmurin

e, that seemet

nge from its

und so tremu

nce was the da

nto

ns of time

ce of earth the

il obscure and

offspring sc

the sky his p

nto

beauty of women, are very artist

aid is like

arden on its

ne and safely

shepherd crops

, the breeze th

to it; love

bosoms and t

oured youths d

nto

na fairest

more fair than

bosom, of lu

eck is round a

vory apples

n the sea-beac

stirs t

nto

f of bliss u

ings, to swim

nto

doth the iv

firmly rooted

other in the

each other's sw

which on India'

he Sab?an o

nto

the appearan

shewn is by the

ry time that f

his cloudy v

htingale its p

hs of the green

athe his pinions

es, enjoying t

nto

ickle than th

tumn doth mor

d doth strip it

ore it in it

nto

es th

doth the deep

strike with an

forward by t

her in its fir

prow to poop, f

the most pote

hus irresol

s, did to the l

nto

wave upon the

ind at first in th

second is th

ird more fierc

humour more ab

d its scourge

ndo thus fro

e, doth the vi

nto

e subjective and subtle than, for instance, Dante's. The same holds good of Tasso.

vely blooms t

leaves her ear

apt, and half t

easure from her

hews her bosom

eets exhale, he

ms the flower s

rished and by

eting with the

lower of mor

s subje

y of ligh

desire played in

net

ividly that Humboldt says 'it reminds one of the charming scenery of Sorrento.' It

n unfolds a be

dorned and eve

akes reflect t

eams in gurgling

scend and sun

aves and grottos

utmost power; b

arm the pleased

ature played a

mock the mimic

gic breathes t

trees eternal

ts on every

rom their buds,

ds, concealed

ife prolong the

eathe on woods

aters yield a m

tuneful choir,

sing, in gent

ink, by turns t

equal skill, h

s, fruit, creatures, and atmosphere all lie under a magic charm. Tasso's

th prose. The shepherd's occupations are described with care, though many of the songs and terms of expression rather fit the man of culture than the child of Nature, and he had that genuine enthusias

is inscription

the sacred ashes, h

Virgil, he share

sly imitated in the didac

475) wrote a didactic poe

of your tiny folk, and from their rich mellifluous haunts, in a clear voice these words flowed forth.... And I will sing how liquid and serene the air distils sweet honey, h

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,

by Virgilian Georgics, show a di

atizing 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 w

thou sweet

of rage a

thing now

he whole

mal, th

! Dost th

hings are

rer, rich with

that tur

with his dul

ompanion. Hear

from boug

loud heart, 'I lo

very

e with what af

y a clinging t

fast its husban

ne, and ash and

ther yearns, and s

tree whic

ic and

mething warm in

but a spirit an

out a meaning f

me, wou

very plants an

s talking, or Akontios complaining. So, to

entings I

in the peb

ve found

hem a ki

er have

r hope

n this hard

all I c

Tirsis how his love

little and lit

ot from

grass grows th

omething whi

anxious to

kisse

d bee fr

ugar s

oney that I

e twin ro

e rejected Polyphemus or Amaryllis in Theocritu

you refuse them obstinately, perhaps because lovelier ones bloom on your own face; if I offer beautiful apples, you reject them angrily, perhaps because your beaut

astoral poetry of Helleni

exandrian and Roman poets, praise of a ha

y age o

the riv

that the woods

the rea

without

pent had no too

hat.... the

olden law, all

and wrote--What plea

e, the dayligh

o us th

, and sleep bring

he most successful imitator of Tasso was Giovanni Battista Guarini (born 1537) in The True Shephe

thee, Syl

rld that's am

rk: heaven loves,

ove and own h

rough t

ts; love through

olphins and the

e bird whi

he hum

e,' he'd cry, 'I

heart he

is warbl

ll by his dear

ies, 'And I too

s woodlan

appy g

silent, sol

ce of peace

y, how willi

n, and oh! i

ly had

solitude, an

ly prompt to

he Elysia

gardens of t

ge for yon enc

ined with much personal sentiment. Petrarch's are the model; he inspired Vittoria Colonna, an

eaves, and hear every babbling brook with grateful murmurs bathing its flowery banks, so that Nature, in love with herself, delights to gaze on the beauty of her works, I say to myself, reflecting: "How brief is this our miserable mortal life!" Yesterday this plain was covered with snow, to-day it is green and flowery. And again in a moment the beauty of the heavens is overclouded by a fierc

equally vivid to the poetess; it is the real 'pleasu

us of Petrarch; for ex

d, inured my g

ed in quick an

sun, unused

itness of my

rds, ye flocks

my consumi

ream to whom

s and wilds, no

s eternal,

hear, and win

beauty--tell h

is to her to

es the pangs w

gns them not th

delight in pain, in telling of their unhappiness and renunciation; here too those wonderful tones which distin

cate compliment

et and fresh a

hand beyond a

at pure air has

elling those 't

, what sun, or

ll these subtl

his sweet scent

eigns to grant

olets, the ha

thers, that ha

ed you with such

ch took my hear

, with that y

anks, and to no

the modern spirit--were, indeed, its pioneers. They recognized their own individuality, pondered their own inner life, del

d a golden age, of blended inner and outer life, or of the finest details of scenery--there lies that bloom of the modern, that breath of subjec

feeling, itself a rebirth of Helleni

the great voyages of discovery, not only socially and economically, but