As the weather becomes more spring-like here is an extract from the first of Pope’s four Pastoral poems. The Pastoral poems are early – remember Pope was born in 1688 – and there is an early reference in a letter in 1705 to the poems and Pope himself mentions he was sixteen when he wrote them, placing them possibly as early as 1704. They were published in an anthology of 1709. The poems represent the coming together of a number of elements in the life of the young Pope. Firstly, his wide and unfettered reading leading him into imitative work in a variety of styles. The time spent outdoors in Windsor Forest and the woods around his home and the interest of local gentlemen on what was increasing appearing to be an extraordinary, prodigal talent.
Pope was clear in his preparatory words what the pastoral form represented to him and the tradition in which it placed him.
In her 1930 biography of Pope, Edith Sitwell – a writer with whom many elements of Pope’s life must have resonated – captured the feeling of this years of Pope’s life.
The Pastorals, whatever their indebtedness, show already the most extraordinary skill and beauty and perfectly acknowledge the landscape from which they came and a sense of the antique.
The Solitary Reader 