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3rd Century B.C. First example of Pastoral poetry, contained themes of love and death. Established the traditions and themes of pastoral poetry, effectively marking the beginning of the pastoral movement.
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The ideas of pastoralism moved from Greece to Rome where Virgil advanced the movement. He started the practice of alluding to contemporary problems through rustic society. Some of these problems involved agrarian, political, and personal issues.
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Longus, a Greek writer, used was the first to incorporate prose romance into the movement.
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Incorporated pastoral themes into dramas. Authors included Tasso and Guarini.
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Pastoral romance novels appeared. Sannazzaro, Montemayor, Cervantes, and d'Urfe wrote these novels.
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Edmund Spenser wrote the "Shepheardes Calender". He used the classical aspects that Theocritus and Virgil used as well as more modern ideas from the early Renaissaince. Pastoral literature became even more popular as a result.
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Attempted a pastoral drama and took a satirical approach to pastoralism.
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As a result of the Renaissance, the idea of a "real man" changed. People no longer wanted to be associated with the country and rustic lifesyles. Therefore, pastoralism slowly began to fade away.
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After the renaisssance, the only aspect of pastoralism to remain in common use was the pastoral elegy. Percy Shelley and Matthew Arnold kept the movement alive.
