CORYDON (CHARACTER)

(Redirected from Alexis (Eclogues))
:''For other meanings, see Corydon (disambiguation).''
'Corydon' (from the Greek ''korudos'', "lark") is a stock name for a shepherd in ancient Greek pastoral poems and fables, such as the one in Idyll 4 of the Syracusan poet Theocritus (c.310-250 B.C.E.). The name was also used by the Latin poets Siculus and, more significantly, Virgil. In the of Virgil's ''Eclogues'', it is used for a shepherd whose love for the boy Alexis is described therein. Virgil's Corydon gives his name to the modern book ''Corydon''.
The name is again used for a shepherd boy in an English children's trilogy (''Corydon and the Island of Monsters'', ''Corydon and the Fall of Atlantis'' and ''Corydon and the Siege of Troy'') by Tobias Druitt. [1]
Other such stock names in poetry include:

★ a Rooster = Chaunticleer (from French ''Chanticler''; [chant + clear, in reference to its crow])

★ a Fox = Reynard (from French ''Reignart''; reign + -ard, "kingly one")

★ a Cat = Felix (from Latin ''felix'', "happy" [influenced by Latin ''feles'', "cat, feline"])

★ a Dog = Rufus (from Latin ''rufus'', "red" [influenced by ''ruff'', the bark of a dog])