From Pastoral to Ecopoetry

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The Pastoral has been one of the longest-lasting and frequently most prestigious genres (or modes) of poetry in English-language traditions. This course explores how and why poetry that extols the virtues of rural life became so pervasive; how it adapted in the face of changing social, economic, and environmental contexts over more than a thousand years; what problems Pastoral poetry addresses and what problems it causes; how modern and postmodern poets have responded to the Pastoral tradition in a decidedly post-pastoral age; last but not least, what work Pastoral poetry can still do for readers today, and where this genre (or mode) can still do important cultural work.