Locus amoenus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Eakins , Arcadia , ca.1883

Locus amoenus ( Latin for 'lovely place') is a literary topos , the main motif of the idealizing description of nature from the Roman Empire to the 16th century. An ideally beautiful section of nature is described, which usually includes a light grove and a spring or a stream, often also flowers and birdsong. The opposite is the locus terribilis , the 'terrible place'.

The locus amoenus is represented with the metaphors of spring or summer and a fertile or lively area such as a garden or a lovely meadow. It is often the setting for lovers to come together. As an opposite pole, the locus terribilis is assigned to winter and a barren or dead area such as the mountains, the desert, the wilderness in general, but also ravines and rocks. It is the place of love lament, spiritual departure from the world or melancholy .

The locus amoenus in ancient literature and art

The ancient locus amoenus is determined by the combination of individual features of a place that are regarded as pleasant or pleasant: a cool fountain, a meadow full of flowers, a shady tree, etc. Among other things, the locus amoenus plays in the myth of the golden age and in connection with the associated one The motif of animal peace plays a role. A continuous development of the motif can be ascertained in ancient literature, ranging from the bucolic poetry of Theocrites to the Elysian fields of the Roman poet Virgil to the depictions of Paradise by the Christian poets.

In the visual arts , idealized river or sea scenes were preferred to depict the locus amoenus , with an emphasis on scenes that took place on the Nile . Another form of representation were paradisiacal scenes populated by shepherds, as described in bucolic poetry. As an expression of the desire for peace and happiness, the motif spread not only within decorative art in economically and politically troubled times in late antiquity , but also replaced mythological themes in the decoration of graves in the 3rd century. Early Christian art also adopted the motif, as can still be seen in the drawings for the dome mosaic of the Santa Costanza church in Rome, built around 350 , which shows a bank landscape under Old Testament scenes. The medieval apse mosaic in the Church of St. Clemente in Rome probably had a similar late antique model.

The locus amoenus in medieval literature

The basic scheme of the locus amoenus was adopted by the medieval poets from antiquity, but they subjected the motif to various changes and used it in an independent way. However, the locus amoenus was retained as a topos and a non-realistic description of an actual place or an existing landscape.

The early medieval author Isidore of Seville explicitly defined the locus amoenus in his Etymologiae as a place that is not used economically, but only serves lust and love. Rabanus Maurus also described him in his encyclopedia De universo . Both authors relied on the Aeneid commentary by the Roman grammarian Servius .

Matthäus von Vendôme (probably died at the end of the 12th century), a poet's scholar from the High Middle Ages , provided in his work Ars versificatoria with examples from ancient and contemporary poetry a model for the description of nature in Latin and vernacular poetry.

The locus amoenus in court literature

In the Middle High German poetry the subject is about the mediation by the old French arrived seal. The first vernacular description of a locus amoenus expected in Alexander Song of Lamprecht priests available, the transfer of the Provençal Roman d'Alexandre of Alberic of Besançon is. Here the locus amoenus is given the attributes walt, scate, blûmen ûnde gras, scône ouwen, edilir brunnen and grûner clê (Alexanderlied, verse 5162 ff.), I.e. forest, shadow, flowers and grass, beautiful meadows, noble fountains and greener Characterized clover.

Between 1190 and 1200 Herbort von Fritzlar translated the Troy novel Estoire de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure , which was probably composed around 1165, into Middle High German. Here, too, there are two depictions of the landscape that are reminiscent of a locus amoenus . The “ Judgment of Paris ” ( Trojaroman verse 2179 ff.) Takes place in a place that is equipped with a tree that casts broad shadows and a fountain that is fed by a clear and cold stream ( wezzerlîne ). The description of the Amazon region also bears the attributes of a locus amoenus (verse 23.314 ff.): Many streams flow on meadows and floodplains, there are pure fountains, well-designed green forests with large trees, beautiful flowers and birdsong.

In the poems about King Arthur Hartmann von Aue , the locus amoenus becomes the venue or starting point of an aventiure , i.e. the knightly probation. In his Erec , created around 1180/90 - a free translation of the old French Erec et Enide by Chrétien de Troyes - Hartmann describes the tree garden in which the knight Mabonagrin lives with his lady as a place where two lovers live together (verse 8715 ff.) : There are many types of fruit trees growing there that bear fruit on one side but bloom on the other. The garden is completely covered with colorful and fragrant flowers and grass, and the birds singing are lovely.

In his Iwein , probably created around the year 1200 - a transfer of the old French Yvain by Chrétien de Troyes - the magic fountain, the place where the Aventiure begins, is equipped with almost everything that defines a locus amoenus (verse 568 ff.): The fountain is cold and pure, neither rain, sun nor the wind can harm it, because it is shaded by a wide, high and dense linden tree. Later (verse 606 ff.) It is mentioned that the linden tree is populated by birds that sing so beautifully that every sad person immediately forgets their grief.

In Iwein and Erec , the locus amoenus bears clear traits of the wonderful and fairytale: In Iwein , the aventiure is set in motion when the knight pours well water on a stone with a golden basin. Thereupon a huge storm breaks out, which threatens to destroy the idyll . But after the storm has subsided, the birds return to the linden tree and start their song again. In Erec , a knight lives with her in complete seclusion at the request of his lady (which contradicts the ideal that hoves vreude , the joys of court life, can only be experienced in one court together with others ) and the tree garden is surrounded by a cloud that no one - except he is led by King Ivreins over a narrow path into the garden - can penetrate. There is also a square in front of the garden with stakes made of oak on which Mabonagrain has speared the heads of his defeated enemies. Despite these frightening details, however, the garden is compared with paradise (verse 9541 ff .: we have herezzen / the other paradise ) and Hartmann emphasizes that every grief in the garden disappears immediately (verse 8735 ff .: swer mit Herzeleide / wære afraid / if he had gone into it / he would have to disregard ir dâ - whoever has a heavy heart forgets his grief immediately when he enters). Here, the idyllic life of two lovers in pleasant surroundings is contrasted effectively with the horror of the impaled human heads and the inaccessibility of the place.

Even more inaccessible is the so-called “Minnegrotte” in Gottfried von Strasbourg's poetry about Tristan and Isolde from around 1210 . The journey through the wilderness takes almost two days until the lovers arrive at a cave that Tristan had only found by accident while hunting. This place bears all the characteristics of a locus amoenus (verse 16.730 ff.): Three linden trees stand directly in front of the door of the grotto, the mountain itself is surrounded by trees that provide shade, a refreshing spring rises nearby; green grass and bright flowers cover the ground. The idyll is completed by the pleasant singing of birds and mild winds. At the same time, this place is surrounded by a locus terribilis (verse 16.761 ff.): From this mountain and this hol / sô what a day pasture wol / velse âne gevilde / and desert unde wilde./ there was no occasion / to escort because of still stîgen (Probably a day's journey this mountain and this cave were only surrounded by rocks and wilderness. Neither a path nor a footbridge led there). “Nevertheless, the landscape does not acquire any intrinsic value. Their function is to mirror human experience. "

The locus amoenus in the hero epic

In the Middle High German heroic epic there are several places that have features of a locus amoenus . Here the place is no longer the scene of an encounter between lovers, but only the starting point or destination for an aventiure . In addition, the description of these places is often schematic and only reduced to a few attributes of the locus amoenus . Josef Billen distinguishes between three different stylistic configurations of the locus amoenus : The static locus amoenus with a small inventory, which is built up using “... purely additive technology” (example “Wolfdietrich A”); the dissolution of the static portrayal, in which the addition technique "... is replaced by signposting and reflection of the landscape elements by human sensory perception" (example "Ortnit") and the ruinous locus amoenus , which only "... marks the scene of the action and ... only has functional value ” (example:“ Nibelungenlied ”).

In the so-called Wolfdietrich A , a heroic epic poem that was probably written in the first third of the 12th century, the knight Wolfdietrich rides through the wilderness for five days until he arrives at a sea beach. On this beach he finds a linden tree and a meadow that is overgrown with flowers and grass so high that these wolf picks reach up to the belt. Roses and clover - the poet adds - smelled sweet. However, Wolfdietrich only considers this place from a pragmatic point of view (verse 467: 3 ff .: got hât mînem rosse pasture alhie bestowed / I feel vil least softer, daz ez reap the benefits - God has prepared a pasture for my horse here, it is me very pleasant that it can feed itself here). Here the locus amoenus is enclosed by two attributes belonging to the wilderness: the sea surf described as threatening (Wolfdietrich even hears Lucifer's voice screaming in it) and a stone wall.

In the stories from the legendary circle around Dietrich von Bern , after a ride through the wilderness near Lake Garda, the knight Ortnit reaches a meadow on which flowers and clover grow and which is filled with the beautiful song of birds. The ground is also overgrown with grass and under a stone wall he finds a cool well and a pleasantly smelling linden tree, which is populated by singing birds (verses 88-92). The description of the place takes place here, so to speak, through Ortnit's eyes; the place is not described by listing the attributes, but rather the beauty of the place is conveyed to the reader / listener via Ortnit's sensory impressions.

The location of Sigfrid's murder by Hagen can only be guessed at as locus amoenus in the Nibelungenlied (Nibelungenlied B, verse 979–988.1). Here, under a linden tree, there is a spring that brings cool, clean and good water. At the end of the scene, the poet tells us that Sigfrid fell into the bluomen . In the Nibelungenlied, the lovely place that invites you to linger becomes a place of horror, a place of death.

The locus amoenus in 17th and 18th century poetry

In the 18th century, the classic topos of locus amoenus with the shepherd's poetry was taken up again in poetry . It was sung about as a place of love and poetry , especially at their wedding in the Baroque and Rococo periods . In a Christian reinterpretation, it was associated with the Garden of Eden. At the same time, the places previously rated as terrifying, such as the mountains or the wilderness, were perceived and described as sublime nature. The interest turned increasingly to the wild and untamed nature and thus shifted from the locus amoenus to the locus terribilis as the ideal landscape in poetry.

Heinrich von Kleist settles his drama “ The horror in the bath ” (1808) in an “ idyll ” (locus amoenus).

The scene “Graceful Area” in Goethe's Faust II refers to the tradition of the locus amoenus , whereas Schiller's elegy The Walk and Friedrich Hölderlin's poem Half of Life are examples of the coexistence of locus amoenus and locus terribilis .

literature

Antiquity

  • Karin Schlapbach: Locus amoenus. In: Real Lexicon for Antiquity and Christianity . Volume 23, Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-7772-1013-1 , Sp. 231-244
  • Petra Haß: The locus amoenus in ancient literature. On the theory and history of a literary motif, Bamberg 1998
  • Gerhard Schönbeck: The Locus amoenus from Homer to Horaz , Heidelberg 1962 (dissertation)

middle Ages

  • Josef Billen: Tree, Anger, Forest and Garden in the Middle High German heroic epic. Münster (Westphalia) 1965 (dissertation)
  • Ernst Robert Curtius: European literature and the Latin Middle Ages. 9th edition. Bern / Munich 1977, Chapter 10: The ideal landscape
  • Rainer Gruenter: The wonderful valley . In: Euphorion 55, 1961, pp. 341–404 (on Gottfrieds von Straßburg Tristan and Isolde )
  • Gertrud Höhler: The fight in the garden. Studies on the Brandigan episode in Hartmann's "Erec" . In: Euphorion 68, 1974, pp. 371-419
  • Dagmar Thoss: Studies on the locus amoenus in the Middle Ages (= Viennese Romanist works , volume 10). Braumüller, Vienna / Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-7003-0027-1

Modern times

  • Klaus Garber: The locus amoenus and the locus terribilis. Image and function of nature in the German shepherd and country poetry of the 17th century (= literature and life , new series, volume 16). Cologne / Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-412-01874-0

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Josef Billen: Tree, Anger, Forest and Garden in the Middle High German heroic epic. Münster (Westphalia) 1965, p. 40 f.
  2. ↑ Josef Billen p. 34
  3. ↑ Josef Billen p. 53 f.
  4. ↑ after the edition: Ortnit and the Wolfdietriche after Müllenhoff's preliminary work edited by Arthur Amelung and Oskar Jänicke, Deutsches Heldenbuch III, Berlin 1871
  5. ↑ after the edition: Ortnit and the Wolfdietriche after Müllenhoff's preliminary work edited by Arthur Amelung and Oskar Jänicke, Deutsches Heldenbuch III, Berlin 1871