THE NEW CLASSICAL SC HOOL 85 But he did not copy the playfully amoraus galanteric of the Greek poet ; he substituted his own strong, sincere feelings. Anather feature of the age was a passion for solitude. Thoughtful persons, it is true, had always found pleasure in escaping fro m the noise a nd bustie of town life to the quiet and !>Olitude of Nature, but in the eigh teenth cen tury, the influence of Rousseau raised that sentiment to the level of a cult, and some of Csokonai's finest poems are in praise of solitude. Undoubtedly stimulated by Rousseau, his inspiration, however, came direct from the beauties of Lake Balaton, wh ich plays the same part in H ongarian poetry as the lakes of Westmare land in English . The public taste was also powerfully impressed by Pope's Rape of the Lock, and, influen ced by the English poet, Csokonai wrote a cornic epic entitled Dorothy, or the Dames' Victory over Prittce Camival. He did not, how ever, adopt the satirical style of Pope, but displayed the burlesque, and at times rude, cornic character of th e . society with which he was acquainted . He travesties certain details of the great world-epics in an inimitably amusing way. The godde.ss of strife, Eris, causes quarrelling amon g the guests at a ball, and they divide into two parties and attack one another. One party, that of the old maids, is headed by Dorothy. What is their grievance agai nst Prince Carnival ? That the time of C arnival is too short, and there are not enough weddings. They also wish to obtain possession of the register of their births, and even the young women join them. ln the course of the strife, Venus arrives, and rej uvenating aU the old maids, recen ciles them with the rest of the world, and they ali marry. Csokonai was the first to introduce the tone of the old
