The artwork entitled “Poet Composing a Classical Eclogue on the Quiet Country Life” was created by Honore Daumier in the year 1840. Rendered in lithography, this piece is part of the Realism art movement and falls under the genre of caricature.
The artwork depicts a poet in an exaggerated, humorous manner as he attempts to compose a classical eclogue, a type of pastoral poem celebrating the serenity of country life. Ironically, the setting is chaotic rather than tranquil. The poet, standing dramatically with a contemplative look, has an elongated face and lanky body, typical of Daumier’s caricature style. He is surrounded by two children; one, on the left, energetically beats a drum with a wide-open mouth as if shouting, and the other, on the right, appears to be crying while holding their ears in distress. This contrast between the poet’s idealized notion of peace and the noisy reality around him humorously critiques romanticized views of rural simplicity.
