Pastoral is a succinct & up-to-date introductory text to the history major writers & critical issues of this genre. Terry Gifford clarifies the different uses of pastoral covering: * the history of the genre from its classical origins to Elizabethan drama through eighteenth-century pastoral poetry to contemporary American nature writing * the pastoral impulse of retreat & return beginning with constructions of Arcadia & using a combination of close reading of"ed texts cultural studies & eco-criticism * post-pastoral texts with a look at writers who Gifford argues have discovered ways of reconnecting us with our natural environment.