The Pastoral

• Can be traced back to 3rd century BC
• conventionalized picture of rural life
• natural and innocence vs corruption and artificiality of city and court
• real vs ideal
• Yearning for golden age of innocence
• about shepherds but not written by them
• use shepherd world to present simple image of complex society
• social political religious criticism
• nostalgic
• written by those in cities
• innocence don't have in a corrupt world
• mythologised world
• Theocritus, Virgil
• Leisure which the townsmen attributes to countryman
• Corrupted by outsiders
• community harmony, value of peace
• shepherd piping and dancing
• The garden of Eden
• tradition from bible and virgil merged
• image of responsibility as shepherd
• garden of eden lost suddenly by sin whereas golden age fades gradually by time
• Wakefeild cycle - second shepherd play (medieval mystery plays)
• using pastoral for satire
• The Fairie Queen
• Milkmaid the english equivalent of french shepherdess
• As You Like It - exploring seriousness of pastoral, constant debate between pastoral and anti-pastoral
• The Winter's Tale - only marry shepherdesses if they are secretly daughters of the aristocracy
• Shepherd able to speak for common man
• The Sad Shepherd - Ben Jonson
• Happy Endings
• Milton  in comus and Paradise Lost