(Sonnet 18.)

The most famous lines in this poem are those which describe a
romantic garden so vividly that Humboldt says 'it reminds one of the
charming scenery of Sorrento.' It certainly proves that even epic
poetry tried to describe Nature for her own sake:

The garden then unfolds a beauteous scene,
With flowers adorned and ever living green;
There silver lakes reflect the beaming day,
Here crystal streams in gurgling fountains play.
Cool vales descend and sunny hills arise,
And groves and caves and grottos strike the eyes.
Art showed her utmost power; but art concealed
With greater charm the pleased attention held.
It seemed as Nature played a sportive part
And strove to mock the mimic works of art:
By powerful magic breathes the vernal air,
And fragrant trees eternal blossoms bear:
Eternal fruits on every branch endure,
Those swelling from their buds, and these mature:
The joyous birds, concealed in every grove,
With gentle strife prolong the notes of love.
Soft zephyrs breathe on woods and waters round,
The woods and waters yield a murmuring sound;
When cease the tuneful choir, the wind replies,
But, when they sing, in gentle whisper dies;
By turns they sink, by turns their music raise
And blend, with equal skill, harmonious lays.

But even here the scene is surrounded by an imaginary atmosphere;
flowers, fruit, creatures, and atmosphere all lie under a magic
charm. Tasso's importance for our subject lies far more in his
much-imitated pastorals.

The _Arcadia_ of Jacopo Sannazaro, which appeared in 1504, a work of
poetic beauty and still greater literary importance,[11] paved the
way for pastoral poetry, which, like the sonnet, was interwoven with
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 enthusiasm
for the rural which begets a convincing eloquence. ''Tis you,' he
says at the end, addressing the Muse, 'who first woke the sleeping
woods, and taught the shepherds how to strike up their lost songs.'

Bembo wrote this inscription for his grave:

Strew flowers o'er the sacred ashes, here lies Sannazaro;
With thee, gentle Virgil, he shares Muse and grave.

Virgil too was industriously imitated in the didactic poetry of his
country.

Giovanni Rucellai (born 1475) wrote a didactic poem, _The Bees_,
which begins: