Idyll XI

[1] Its main character, the Cyclops Polyphemus, has appeared in other works of literature such as Homer's Odyssey, and Theocritus' Idyll VI.

Idyll XI has an unusual set of narrative framing, as Theocritus appears in propria persona, and directly offers his friend Nicias consolatio amoris.

He makes up for this, however, by reminding her of stores of cheese, and his vast flocks of sheep, and encourages Galatea to leave the sea and join him on land.

The piece concludes with Theocritus pointing out that Polyphemus had successfully found a cure for his love in song, without having to pay a doctor.

[9] When comparing Idyll XI and VI, the two poems illustrate a reverse of character roles; Id.

[11] He argued that such framework creates a contradiction, as "song" is depicted as both the solution, and one of the symptoms of Polyphemus' problem (line 13).

(Corydon seems to be indiscriminate in his sexual preferences, since he compares and contrasts Alexis with previous love interests both male and female.)

Corydon sings of his love for Alexis in what is at times nearly a word-for-word translation of Theocritus' Greek into elegant Latin verse, setting up a contrast, similar to that in Idyll XI, between the supposedly unlettered and artless shepherd and the exquisitely wrought stream of verse he sings.

Idyll XI is also imitated, or more accurately parodied, by Ovid, Metamorphoses XIII 789ff., which tells the story of Galatea and Acis, her lover, and the Cyclops.

The Cyclops, spurned by Galatea in favor of Acis, sings his charming and tender song, modeled on both Idyll XI and Eclogue II but drawn out to absurd length, and at the end suddenly announces that he is going to tear his rival Acis apart limb from limb.