1. 1 The Pastoral It’s not all about the sheep

2. 2 Classical Pastoral Est. by Theocritus in Greek (3 rd century BCE) Popularized by Virgil in Latin: Ecologues Also: bucolic poetry, idyll, ecologue

3. 3 Conventions THE GOLDEN AGE Golden Age: a time of simplicity and perfection associated with the past –Simple –Innocent –Close to nature = close to Nature

4. 4 IDEALIZED NATURAL SETTING

5. 5 Ideal vs the Real

6. 6 SHEPHERD’S LIFE FOR ME idealized labour Carpe diem Note the nakedness—both a patriarchal sign and a figure for the “natural” openness and truthfulness of the country

7. 7 Satirical Pastoral: The “Contrivance” of The Court

8. 8 This is not the escapism you were looking for. Strong connection between the pastoral space and the space of the city or Court Replication or reproduction of Courtly models in the country –Displaced articulation of critique –Alternative perspective on the “centre”

9. 9 Sheep: Cash Crop Woolen industry = the engine of English economy Much animosity between peasantry and “big business” over –Enclosure –Manufacture –Suppression of traditional celebrations

10. 10 Shaggy Foreground Objects Idealization of the Pastoral subject (lusty shepherds, buxom milk- maids) and the type of labour they undertake –Effaces political tension –Effaces material conditions –Figures the pastoral landscape as a “time out of time”

11. 11 Hindsight: Nostalgia