This is no
reminiscence of the Roman elegists, but true modern sentiment; and the
parallel to it--a sincere, unartificial description of country life in
general--will be found at the end of this part of our work.
It may be objected that the German painters at the beginning of the
sixteenth century succeeded in representing with perfect mastery these
scenes of country life, as, for instance, Albrecht Durer, in his
engraving of the Prodigal Son. But it is one thing if a painter,
brought up in a school of realism, introduces such scenes, and quite
another thing if a poet, accustomed to an ideal or mythological
framework, is driven by inward impulse into realism. Besides which,
priority in point of time is here, as in the descriptions of country
life, on the side of the Italian poets.
Discovery of Man
To the discovery of the outward world the Renaissance added a still
greater achievement, by first discerning and bringing to light the
full, whole nature of man. This period, as we have seen, first gave the
highest development to individuality, and then led the individual to
the most zealous and thorough study of himself in all forms and under
all conditions. Indeed, the development of personality is essentially
involved in the recognition of it in oneself and in others. Between
these two great processes our narrative has placed the influence of
ancient literature because the mode of conceiving and representing both
the individual and human nature in general was defined and colored by
that influence.
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