work. Passus comes from the Latin word of the same
spelling, meaning “step” or “pace.” The use of the term
in English literature fi rst appeared in conjunction with
Langland’s work, and it is similar in style to that of the
canto (a major division in a long poem), which enjoys
a wider usage among early English poets.
FURTHER READING
Simpson, James. “From Reason to Affective Knowledge:
Modes of Thought and Poetic Form in Piers Plowman.”
Medium Aevum 55, no. 1 (1986): 1–23.
Erin N. Mount
PASTOR AL The word pastoral evokes images of
lush greenery, secluded retreat, carefree idealism, and
the occasional stray sheep. But the essential observa-
tion about the pastoral is that it is not a genre but a
mode—that is, one can create or read pastoral lyric
poetry, but one can also create or read pastoral drama
or pastoral novels. Renaissance poets certainly demon-
strated this adaptability, but they also stuck close to
convention. The Greek poet Theocritus and the Roman
poet VIRGIL serve as the signifi cant classical practitio-
ners of pastoral. Following Virgil’s lead, Renaissance
poets often began their careers with pastoral to prepare
them for writing an elevated EPIC, and they wrote pri-
marily classical lyric pastoral. They adhered to pastoral
conventions and topics such as innocence, happiness,
and the simplicity of the bucolic lifestyle, often oppos-
ing this lifestyle—with its shepherds, landscapes, sing-
ing matches, and purity—to the corruption, ceremony,
and superfi ciality of the city or the court.
There are two major types of pastoral. It can often
be sentimental and even sensational, with an idyllic
longing for leisure and escape to a fi ctional and pasto-
ral world; CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE’s “The PASSIONATE
SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE” offers an excellent example of
this aesthetic and idealized pastoral. The response by
SIR WALTER RALEIGH, “The NYMPH’S REPLY TO THE SHEP-
HERD,” on the other hand, is often called an antipastoral
for its open denigration of the conventions of the genre.
Pastoral can also address social issues, using rustic ele-
ments to discuss larger and more complex confl icts.
Either way, the lives of shepherds and herdsmen can
generalize across all tiers of society, and a pastoral poet
can address didactic, amorous, or social themes, to
name a few. As George Puttenham writes in The ARTE
OF ENGLISH POESIE (1589), “under the veil of homely
persons, and in rude speeches” a pastoral poet can
“insinuate and glance at greater matters.”
See also LOCUS AMOENUS.
FURTHER READING
Alpers, Paul. What is Pastoral? Chicago: University of Chi-
cago Press, 1996.
Empson, William. Some Versions of Pastoral. New York: New
Directions, 1968.
Craig T. FehrmanPASTOURELLE From the French, meaning
“shepherdess,” a pastourelle is a medieval lyric in a
bucolic context. It is a short lyric dialogue in which a
gallant, knight, or (sometimes) clerk (often coinciding
with the narrating voice) attempts to seduce a shep-
herdess. The outcome varies, sometimes even veering
toward rape. The pastourelle was popular because of
the battle of wits between the two characters and the
mixture of narrative poetry, contrasto, and amorous
COMPLAINT, with some borrowings from popular art
forms such as the BALLAD. It is often an enjoyment at the
expense of the shepherds, whose role is usually comic.
The origin of the pastourelle is uncertain, though it
fl ourished in Provençal between the 12th and 14th
centuries. The genre includes some notable examples
in English and Welsh, but was most popular in late-
medieval Scotland. An outstanding 15th-century
example is ROBENE AND MAKYNE by ROBERT HENRYSON.
See also PASTORAL.
FURTHER READING
Jones, William Powell. The Pastourelle. A Study of the Origin
and Tradition of a Lyric Type. 1931. Reprint, New York:
Octagon Books, 1973.
Paden, William D., ed. The Medieval Pastourelle. New York:
Garland, 1987.
Alessandra PetrinaPATRONAGE Patronage defi nes the relationship
between an infl uential and powerful person/institution
and an artist. The parties agree to exchange one’s protec-
tion or money for the other’s talent or intellectual work,PATRONAGE 311