Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

The Inner World of the Pastoral:
Virgilian Allusion in Sannazaro’s
First Piscatorial Eclogue
Francesco Pucci
Pastoral verse is historically a hybrid genre: in any pastoral poetry the reader
finds monologue, dialogue, elegy, satire, myth, and more. Out of this hybrid
nature follows an intrinsic allusiveness: in seeking to bring together many
genres and forms, the poet must incorporate specific sources from those
traditions either directly or indirectly. The distinguishing characteristic of all
pastoral poetry, however, is its creation of an “other” world. This provides the
opportunity for allusion and even necessitates it—in order to construct an
imaginary pastoral landscape, the author must draw from either the real world or
the literary world. The former produces allegory while the latter produces
allusion. The hybrid nature and the penchant for allusion present in the pastoral
are evident in the works of the father of the genre, Theocritus (316-260 B.C.).
His Idylls have been the most influential of ancient Greek bucolic poetry. The
title is derived from the Greek word “,” meaning “picture” or “scene.” This
cycle of poems consists of individual vignettes that span genre and style. Each
idyll is, in turn, an amalgamation of literary forms and an allusive invocation of
more ancient works.
If Theocritus invented the pastoral poem, then Virgil confirmed and deepened
it. Virgil’s Bucolica were his first masterpieces (ca. 39 B.C.E.), in which he
draws heavily from Theocritus in theme and form while adding to the tradition.
Pastoral poetry is often said to have both an inner and outer world. For Virgil,
the outer world was Rome in the last days of the Republic. Virgil expertly
causes the “other” world of his Eclogues to turn outward on Rome; thus the
poetry becomes a source of great allegory and satire. Virgil’s pastoral world is
not a utopia; rather, his shepherds face political conflict, exile, and perturbations
in the natural world. The inner world of the Bucolica, however, is not only the
literal landscape surrounding Corydon and Thyrsis but also the inner world of
poetry. Each eclogue examines the creation of poetry, the ideal qualities of
pastoral verse and even the shortcomings of the genre—in this sense, Virgil’s
Eclogues are self-reflective. It is Virgil’s development of these inner and outer
worlds and the ease with which he moves between them that is perhaps his great
contribution to pastoral poetry.
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