Spenser, Marvell, and Renaissance Pastoral

Reading Desire in the Pastorals of Elizabeth Singer Rowe

“…Such an exposition in dialogue of the different claims of love and friendship belongs to the pastoral tradition, which involves ''implicitly or explicitly a critical exploration and counterbalancing of attitudes, perspectives, and experiences''. 36 Rowe's pastoral dialogue between Philomela and Daphne does just this. She exploits the opportunity for meaningful dialectic in this poem by exposing the tensions and anxieties implicit in articulating same-sex desire.…”

The Green Cabinet and the Pastoral Design: Theocritus, Euripides, and Tibullus

“…33 The first elegy introduces the elements of this design that is typical of complex pastoral and establishes the major moral and psychological oppositions of the elegy book. At the outset Tibullus rejects two forms of the active life as led by Romans of his day; neither pursuit of wealth nor warfare has any attractions for him (1)(2)(3)(4). 34 After thus turning his back upon representative lives in the real world, Tibullus begins to picture the ideal life he would like to lead.…”