In eclogue poetry , this is a small poem, most often describing sketches from rural, shepherd's life. The shepherds of antiquity did exactly the same thing as their modern descendants: they dreamed of love and higher blessings while working in the fresh air, composed songs, which were then transformed into spiritual poetry of that time.
Antiquity
The love, pastoral genre was originally called "bukoliki" (from the ancient Greek bukolos - "shepherd"). From the nameless folk art, this poetic style is transformed into a significant personal art. So, from ordinary verses on an arbitrary subject, he was made by the Roman poet Publius Virgil Maron, author of the famous epic "Aeneid". The Mantua Swan (as it was called by birthplace, the Italian city of Mantova) was the first author to have influenced and turned the importance of eclogue to further development. It was after his first work "bukoliki", which he himself called "eclogy", and the popularization of the genre began. True, it is worth noting that in his work Virgil lost the natural ease and spontaneity of folk pastorals, introducing a political component and a pictorial literary syllable into them, although this was not his goal at all.
Eclogues became the progenitors of the original Renaissance pastoral novel thanks to one of the followers of the ancient Roman poet, the Greek writer Long, in the 2nd century A.D. who created the prose novel "Daphnis and Chloe" based on the shepherd's idyll. For historical reasons, his story was not rightly appreciated in ancient times and was rehabilitated only in the Renaissance.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the bucolic, filled with the tenderness of natural descriptions, the heart's outpourings and the spiritual joys of life, remained the same allegorical genre of eclogy. This work is “Fiesolan Nymphs” by Giovanni Boccaccio, the drama “Aminta” by Torquato Tasso, collections of Edmund Spencer, his “Shepherd’s Calendar” and the chivalrous poem “Queen of the Fairies”. So pastoral literature seamlessly merged with the chivalrous novel, the poetry of the troubadours.
Later, charming with the charms of rural peaceful life and the love adventures of simple shepherds, the eclogues grew into one of the genres of the court theater. The performances during the festivities showed the uncomplicated life of rural residents, embellished with aristocratic manners and beautiful speeches of heroes.
Russian culture
In Russian literature, eclogue is a genre that is characterized by a mixture of shepherd poetry and erotic poetry, taking root in antiquity. This is a depiction of sensual love with pronounced playfulness and open hints. The rest also uses a love story with a happy ending.
Pastoral poetry in Russia has been known since the end of the 18th century. Ermil Ivanovich Kostrov, Ippolit Fedorovich Bogdanovich, Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov received national fame among the lyricists of this style. The latter was criticized for more attention to nature than to the sensory component. In the 19th century, Vladimir Ivanovich Panayev and Alexei Vasilievich Koltsov continued spiritual poetry, using pastoral elements in songs.
Modern literature
The modern growth of industrialization has led to an increase in the contrast between the aspects of "nature" and the city, which means that eclogue for modern authors is becoming more mechanized, changing its shape and changing the direction of progress. So, American pastoral Philip Roth goes into postmodernism, where the shepherd’s idyll is almost impossible to discern.
Among Russian authors, stand out Dmitry Lipskerov with the novel "Gottlieb Space", Victor Astafyev, who is called the genius of the modern pastoral with the work "Shepherd and Shepherdess".
As you can see, idyllic eclogs from the time of antiquity can be traced in many genres, go from poetry to prose, and become popular in different parts of the world. Global urbanization has influenced the genre, which is now perhaps more correctly called "post-pastoral." At the same time, looking back at the early branching in the bucolic, we can say that this phenomenon is temporary.