Pastoral Poetry Moneer Lubbad

 A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to changing seasons and the availability of water. Alvan Fisher, Pastoral Landscape, 1854

 It lends its name to a genre of literature, art and music that depicts such life in an idealized manner, typically for urban audiences.  A pastoral is a work of this genre.  It is generally emotional and centered on love themes. Alvan Fisher, Pastoral Landscape, 1854

 The pastoral elegy is one form of pastoral poetry.  But a pastoral poem could be about anything or written in any manner but the imagery must be consistently pastoral.  Pastoral poetry talks about shepherds and living in valleys and mountains.

Alexander Pope ( ) Best known for his Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad.

Christopher Marlowe ( )

Walter Raleigh ( )

Spenser He wrote a number of pastorals, one of them (The Shepheardes Calender)

Landmarks in English Pastoral Poetry

It is about the woes of two shepherds who love the same woman. She leaves both of them, however, and then the two shepherds feel dejected and heartbroken. They cry out to the gods, to nature, and to the heavens in their angst, and everything they see is altered because of their sorrows. See your book page 43.

It published for six years after the poet's death !! One of the most well-known love and pastoral poems in the English language. The poem was the subject of a well-known "reply" by Walter Raleigh, called "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd“. the poem is about one lover who says to another lover: "move to the country with me and once you're there we can play by the river, listen to the birds sing, and I'll even make you some bohemian chic clothing to boot.“ See your book page 44&45

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