Pastoral

Pastoral, dramatic form which evolved in Italy from pastoral poetry by way of the dramatic eclogue or shepherds' play. There were pastoral elements in early plays, but the first true pastoral was Tasso's Aminta (1573), which was widely imitated. Another important work was Guarini's Il pastor fido (1596–8), which was seen in London in 1602, and had a great influence, particularly on Lyly. The best of the many reworkings of inherently repetitive themes, and the representative pastoral of the next generation, was Bonarelli's Filli di Sciro (1607). The first English pastoral was the charming and poetic The Faithful Shepherdess (1608) by Fletcher. The genre never became acclimatized in England, though it had some influence on the masque and on Shakespeare. It was more at home in France, where it inspired a number of dramatists, among them Hardy and above all Mairet, whose Sylvie (1626) is generally regarded as the finest French pastoral, and whose Silvanire (1630) served as a vehicle for the introduction of the unities into French drama. Although the vogue for the pastoral was short-lived, its introspective lovers, who analyse their feelings at great length, stimulated the type of comedy written in France in the 1630s by such authors as Corneille.