Penned around 700 B.C.E., "Works And Days" is a matter-of-fact epic: earthy, prescriptive and practical. Hesiod connects work, wealth and justice, and laments the passing of man's distant Golden Age.

Timeless love story set in an idealized countryside on Lesbos. Ravel later turned this into a ballet.

A dialogue or soliloquy in verse form (in this case between shepards), Virgil's invention is relatively well known, though rarely used today.

Very popular and influential Italian eclogues from the Renaissance, now nearly forgotten.

Though better known for his epic "The Faerie Queene," Spenser started out writing in a pastoral style, especially with "The Shepheardes Calender," a series Georgics dedicated to Philip Sidney.

Definitely one of the most well known "pastoral" plays, it isn't the only one. Fletcher ("The Faithfull Shepheardesse"), Randolph ("Amyntas"), and Johnson ("The Sad Shepherd") are worth hunting down.

The Romantics would play a large role in revitalizing and reshaping pastoral, especially Wordsworth with "The Prelude," and "Michael."

With an emphasis on self-reliance, simplicity, and respect for the individual, Emerson set off Transcendentalism in the United States.

The New Pastoral, is an impressive work of scholarship not to mention editing. "Pastoral" is clearly evolving internationally. Below is a sample of poets within, as well as a few of my own choosing.

Hull has a powerful albeit idiosyncratic voice, and an interesting background. A collaboration worth further investigation.

Groarke is quite versatile, and is one of the greatest living poets in Ireland.

How will we be seen when we are ancient? Is it true that the pastoral hasn't happened yet?

An anthology ostensibly about the place of Greek myth in modern poetry, this book features a few pastoral poets/poems of note.