Calverley's preface immediately announces a translator's dilemma: whether to render Theocritus' Greek hexameters into blank verse or rhyme. He argues that rhyme, absent in the original, artificially divides the verse into stanzas, while blank verse better mirrors the unrhymed flow. Yet he concedes that for strophic passages, rhyme may be needed. This self-conscious negotiation between fidelity and English poetic tradition shapes every page.

The excerpts that follow reveal a world where shepherds sing of love and loss, but also where poets praise living rulers—Ptolemy and Hiero—and pray for peace. Theocritus' voice is at once rustic and courtly, and Calverley's translation preserves that duality through varied meters and a lexicon that can shift from colloquial to elevated within a single idyll.

The Translator's Metrical Choices

Calverley's preface lays out his reasoning with unusual candor. He notes that the fourteen-syllable line contains roughly the same number of syllables as a typical Theocritean hexameter, making it a natural equivalent. He also defends occasional rhyme by pointing to the “assonances, alliterations, and rhymes” found in Ionic Greek, though he considers them too rare to justify regular rhyme. The result is a translation that shifts between blank verse, rhyming couplets, and other meters, as seen in the excerpts: the opening of Idyll XVI uses a loose iambic rhythm without rhyme, while later passages employ couplets. Readers should attend to these shifts, as they often signal a change in tone—from narrative to lyric, or from rustic dialogue to formal praise.

Pastoral and Courtly Worlds

Theocritus' Idylls are famous for their pastoral settings, but the excerpts also show a strong courtly dimension. In Idyll XVI, the poet addresses Hiero, the Syracusan ruler, and prays for peace: “May ill winds waft across the Southern sea / ... our foes.” The pastoral imagery—flocks, cornlands, cicalas—is interwoven with martial hopes. Similarly, Idyll XVII opens with “With Zeus begin, sweet sisters” and proceeds to praise Ptolemy as “first among mankind.” Theocritus moves fluidly between the shepherd's pipe and the king's court, and Calverley's translation captures this by using elevated diction for praise and simpler language for rustic scenes. Notice how the same poet who describes a “red brick wash” also invokes “Zeus, the sire most glorious.”

Recurring Motifs: Fame, Wealth, and Song

Several passages dwell on the power of poetry to confer lasting fame. In Idyll XVI, the poet declares: “Through song alone may man true glory taste; / The dead man's riches his survivors waste.” This theme recurs in the praise of Ptolemy, where the poet claims that without song, even heroes like Odysseus would be forgotten. The excerpts also contrast material wealth with the esteem of mankind: “Horses and mules inferior things I find / To the esteem and love of all mankind.” Theocritus positions the poet as the guardian of memory, and Calverley's translation emphasizes this by using strong, declarative lines. Readers should watch for variations on this idea across different idylls, as it ties together the pastoral and courtly strands.

Structure and Address: The Poet's Voice

The excerpts reveal a consistent structural pattern: the poet directly addresses a deity, a patron, or the Muses. Idyll XVI begins with a question—“But to what mortal's roof may I repair, / I and my Muse?”—and ends with an invocation to the Graces. Idyll XVII opens with “With Zeus begin” and closes with a plea to the same goddesses. This framing device gives each poem a ceremonial quality, as if the poet is performing a ritual. Calverley preserves this by using exclamatory phrases and direct address (“O Zeus,” “O Graces”). The effect is to make the reader feel like an audience to a live recitation. Pay attention to how each idyll's opening and closing lines establish a relationship between poet, subject, and listener.

Because the excerpts are incomplete, the full range of Theocritus' idylls—including his famous love poems and rustic dialogues—is only hinted at. Calverley's translation, however, offers a consistent approach: he treats each poem as a distinct performance, with its own meter and tone. For a first reading, focus on how the translator's preface prepares you for the metrical variety, and how the themes of fame, peace, and poetic power recur across the selections. The pastoral and courtly worlds are not separate but intertwined, and the poet's voice is the thread that binds them.