The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms - Ross Murfin 2018

Bucolic (poetry)

Bucolic (poetry): From the Greek for “cowherd,” a term that has traditionally been used to refer to pastoral writings. Bucolic poetry typically concerns itself with the pastoral subjects of shepherds and their country ways and values. The plural (bucolics) has been used to refer to the entire corpus of pastoral works by classical writers such as the third-century B.C. Greek poet Theocritus and the first-century B.C. Roman poet Virgil. Today, bucolic and bucolics are used more loosely to refer to works with rural or rustic settings or styles.