As it turns out, I write like H. P. Lovecraft.

According to "I Write Like", I write like H. P. Lovecraft. I simply couldn't be more pleased with myself.

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Here is the text that I submitted for "analysis" (it is from the post An Orthodox theologian explains what he means by "Inclusivism" and "Tolerance"):

Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetrious is a prominent Orthodox theologian who is especially noted for his involvement in inter-faith dialogue (see his official biography at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website). Father Papademetrious is a highly educated and exceptionally articulate man. When he writes about the relationship between Christianity and other religions he is not satisfied with glib, politically correct catch-phrases. Where he finds simplicity, he does not shy away from stating things plainly, even bluntly. And where he finds complexity, he insists on giving that complexity it's full due.

As far as I can see, there is no reason to doubt that Father Papademetrious has a genuine personal commitment to religious tolerance, and an abhorrence of all religious violence and persecution regardless of who the victims (or perpetrators) are. And he also possesses a clearly demonstrated interest in and sympathy for non-Christian religious traditions and their adherents.

But while Father Papademetrious' intelligence and humaneness shine through in his writings, this only makes it all the more jarring when one realizes the unambiguous import of what he believes to be the truth about all non-Christian religions. In particular, he insists that Christianity alone offers "salvation" and contains "saving truths". But somehow he makes this claim in the name of "tolerance" and "inclusiveness" (and also in the name of rejecting "exclusivism"). But Father Papademetrious is not here engaging in any deception or sophistry. He states very clearly what he means by "exclusivism", "inclusivism" and "tolerance". On close inspection, his definitions turn out to be rather counterintuitive, but they are not completely unreasonable, and they are presented in a very forthright and even well-reasoned manner, so there is no excuse for misunderstanding him.

The association between beneficial weather magic and Witchcraft on the Isle of Man, according to the Holinshed's Chronicles (1586)

The following text is taken from The Holinshed Project at Oxford University:

Giraldus noteth a conten|tion betwéene the kings of England & Ireland for the right of this Iland, but in the end, when by a compr [...]|mise the triall of the matter was referred to the liues or deaths of such venemous wormes as should be brought into the same, and it was found that they died not at all, as the like doo in Ireland, sentence passed with the king of England, & so he reteined the Iland. But howsoeuer this matter standeth, and whether anie such thing was done at all or not, sure it is that the peo|ple of the said Ile were much giuen to witchcraft and sorcerie (which they learned of the Scots a nation great|lie bent to that horible practise) in somuch that their women would oftentimes sell wind to the mariners, inclosed vnder certeine knots of thred, with this in|iunction, that they which bought the same, should for a great gale vndoo manie, and for the lesse a fewer or smaller number.

The authors of the Chronicles are essentially just repeating the tale about Manx weather Witches found already in Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon, written in Latin in the mid 14th century. Moreover, the decision by John Trevisa, when translating the Polychronicon into Middle English in 1387 (link), to characterize the weather magic of the women of the Isle of Man as "Witchcraft", is upheld in the Chronicles. It should be emphasized that the Chronicles have nothing good to say about Witchcraft, or at least no desire to say anything good of this "horible practise". And yet the only specific example cited to illustrate the way in which "the people of the said Ile were much giuen" to Witchcraft is a clear and unambiguous case of beneficial magic!

[The image, depicting a "Mudhead" dancer, at the top of the post is from:  Roediger, Virginia More. Ceremonial Costumes of the Pueblo Indians: Their Evolution, Fabrication, and Significance in the Prayer Drama. Berkeley:  University of California Press,  c1991 1991. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft8870087s/]

Finnish Witch selling wind to sailors. Olaus Magnus, 1555.

Looking it up: Witches and Witchcraft in some early English dictionaries

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The post is mostly just a raw "data dump" consisting of selections from four of the earliest English language dictionaries (dated 1604, 1656, 1658, and 1755). In every case it is shown that "Witch" and "Witchcraft" are not defined in terms maleficium, but rather in terms of magical powers in a very general way without direct reference to harmful magic. There are references to the perverse Christian notion that magic is associated with "the Devil, or evil Spirits", but this is not said uniquely of Witchcraft alone, but also of Necromancy. In many other sources from the same period one also finds the Devil (and "evil spirits") associated with Conjurers, Sorcerers, Prophetesses, etc. Also, even when Witchcraft is specifically being associated with evil spirits, as in Philips' General Dictionary of 1656, the actions attributed to Witches are described as "Wonders", and in the same Dictionary, the entry for "Wonders" refers to "the seven Wonders of the World," and there is nothing to indicate an association with maleficium or anything of the sort. Moreover, the word "Witch" is explicitly presented in the sources below as being synonymous with a variety of other words to denote magical practitioners, including especially: "Magician", "Prophetess", "Enchantress", "Wizzard", and "Sorceress" (as well as, although somewhat less directly, with "Conjurer", "Wise Man", "Cunning Man", "Astrologer", and "Diviner").

1.
ROBERT CAWDREY'S A TABLE ALPHABETICAL (1604)

magitian, (g) one vsing witchcraft


2.
Glossographia Anglicana Nova: Or, A Dictionary, Interpreting Such Hard Words of Whatever Language, as are at Present Used in the English Tongue, by Thomas Blount (1656)

Pythoness, a Woman posses'd with a Familiar, or Prophecying Spirit, a Sorceress, or Witch.


3.
The New World of English Words, or, a General Dictionary, by Edward Phillips, 1658

Cunning-Man, one skilled in Astrology; a Diviner, a Conjurer.
Enchantress, a Witch or Sorceress
Magician, one that possesseth Magick, which was the same with the Persians as Philosophy among the Greeks, i. e. the Study of the more secret and mysterious Arts: Whence the Three Wise Men in the East, that came to adore the Savior of the World, were call'd Magi, but the Word now is commonly taken in a bad Sense, for a Wizard, Sorcerer, or Conjurer.
Magick, or Diabolical Magick, the Black Art, a dealing with Familiar Spirits, Conjuring, Sorcery, Witchcraft.
Natural Magick, or Natural Philosophy, an innocent and useful Science, teaching the Knowledge and mutual Application of Actives to Passives, so as to make many excellent Discoveries: But this Study being corrupted by the Arabians, and fill'd with many superstitious Vanities, the Word began to be taken in an ill Sense.
Magick Square, is when several Numbers, in Arithmetical proportions, are disposed into such parallel and equal Ranks, that the Sums of each Row taken any way, either directly or side-long, shall be all equal.
Necromancy, an Art, by which Communication is held with the Devil, so as to call up the Spirits of the Dead, such as the Witch of Endor made Use of to cause Samuel to appear to Saul.
Python, a venomous Serpent; also a familiar of prophecying Spirit, or one possessed with it.
Pythoness, a Woman so possessed [see Python, above]; a Prophetess; a Sorceress, or Witch.
Sorcerer, one that uses Witch-craft, a Wizzard, Magician, or Inchanter.
Sorceress, a Witch or Hag.
Wise-Man, see Cunning-Man
Witch, an old Hag, or Woman that deals with Familiar Spirits.
Witchcraft, the black Art, whereby with the Assistance of the Devil, or evil Spirits, some Wonders may be wrought, which exceed the common Apprehensions of Men.


4.
A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson, 1755

Wárlock., Wárluck n.s. [vardlookr, Islandick, a charm; werloʒ, Saxon, an evil spirit. This etymology was communicated by Mr. Wise.] A male witch; a wizzard.
Warlock in Scotland is applied to a man whom the vulgar suppose to be conversant with spirits, as a woman who carries on the same commerce is called a witch: he is supposed to have the invulnerable quality which Dryden mentions, who did not understand the word: "He was no warlock, as the Scots commonly call such men, who they say are iron free or lead free." [From John Dryden's notes on his own translation of Vergil's Aeneid (link), specifically in reference to the fact that Vergil allows his hero to be wounded in battle (in Book XII), thus demonstrating that Aeneas "was no warluck", that is to say, he did not possess "the invulnerable quality" that "in Scotland", according to Johnson, is supposed, by "the vulgar", to be characteristic of both Witches and Warlocks.]

Cornelius Agrippa on "Witchinge Magick", according to James Sanford's 1569 English translation of "De incertitudine et vanitate omnium scientiarum et artium liber"

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Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's De incertitudine et vanitate omnium scientiarum et artium liber was first published (in its original Latin) in 1527. In 1569 an English translation by James Sanford (or possibly Sandford) was published in London under the title of The Vanitie and Uncertaintie of Artes and Sciences.

The word "Witch" actually only appears three times in the passage below (Chapter 44), and one of these is in the title. Twice "Witch" is used to translate the Latin "venefica", and once to translate the Latin "magas". While it is true that "venefica" is often (erroneously) thought of as referring unambiguously to malefic magic (and poisoning in particular), Agrippa makes clear that the "Witchinge Magick" to which he refers is often put to beneficial (or at least non-malefic) use, such as "charmed drinckes for love, and ... medicins ... whereby happy and fortunate childerne maye be begotten," or even to bestow upon a person the ability to "understand the voices of birdes." Shape-shifting is another power attributed, very prominently, by Agrippa to the "pocions" of the Witches, and in doing so he makes explicit reference to the celebrated Metamorphoses of Apuleius. And as Raven Grimassi points out in his essay My View On Italian Witchcraft, "It is among the Romans that we encounter common views of the era regarding the Witch [he is referring to those designated by the Pagan Romans as "Veneficae"]. The Roman poet Horace depicts her as calling upon the goddess Diana, and of working rituals and magic in connection with the moon. Ovid and Lucan broaden this view, and we come to see the Witch figure as a priestess of a triformis goddess: Hecate, Diana, Proserpina. I view this literary tradition as being rooted in actual forms of Witchcraft."

And now let us turn to the passage in question. You can read the original directly here: http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=witch;cc=witch;idno=wit005;seq=128.

Of Witchinge Magicke. Cap.44.  [De Magia Venefica]

There is another kinde of naturall Magicke which is termed, Witchinge [veneficam] or Medicinall which is done with pocions, charmed drinckes for love, and divers poysoninge medicins suche a one as Democritus is reade to have made, whereby happy and fortunate childerne maye be begotten, and an other whereby we maie well understand the voices of birdes, as Philostratus and Porphyrius do recompte of Apollonius. Virgill also speakinge of certayne herbes of Pontus, sayde: With these, o Merim, have I seene, ofte times a man to have; The feareful shape as wilde wolfe, and him selfe in woodes do save. Ofte times the ghastly ghostes to leave, theire deape graves grown with grasse: And I have seene the sowen seede. to place from place to passe. And Plinie saithe, that one Demarchus Parrhasius in a sacrifice of mans bodie, whiche the Arcadians offered to Jupiter Liceus, tasted the inwardes of a sacrificed childe was turned into a Wolfe, for the whiche transformation of men into Wolfes, Augustine thinketh that Pan was called with an other name Liceus, and Jupiter Liceus. The same Augustine doth recompt, that when he was in Italie, certaine women witches [foeminas magas], like Circes: when they had geven inchauntmentes in chéese to straungers they trásformed them into horses, and other beastes of cartage and when they had caried the burdens, that they listed, againe they turned them into men: and that this chauced at that time to one Father Prestantius. But bicause any maye not thinke that these be dotages, and thinges impossible, let him remember that which the holy scriptures do declare That the Kinge Nabuchodonosar was transformed into an Oxe, and lived seven yéeres with heye, at length through the mercie of God became a man againe, whose body after his death, Euilmoradath his sonne gave to the ravens to be devoured, leste at any time he might rise from death, who of a beaste became eftsoones a man. And Exodus sheweth many thinges of this sorte, of Pharoes Inchaunters. But yet of these Magitians or Inchaunters the Wise man speaketh, when he saithe: Thou haste hated them O God, because with inchauntmentes they did horrible woorkes. Furthermore I will have you understad this, that the Magitians do not onely searche out naturall thinges, but them also, whiche accompanie nature, and after a sorte do spoyle her, as are the movinges, numbers, figures, soundes, voices, tunes, lightes, affections of the mind and woordes. Thus did the Psilies, and the Marsies call Serpentes, other chased them awaye: in this wise did Orpheus with a hymne asswage the stormie tempest of the Argonautes Jasons cópanions: and Homer saithe that Ulysses bloude was stented with woordes: and in the lawe of the twelve tables a paine was appointed for them, that had inchaunted corne: so that it is no doubt, that Magitians alone also with woordes and affections, and other lyke thinges oftentimes doo bringe foorthe some marveilous effect not onely in themselves, but also in straunge thinges: all whiche operations they suppose to spredde adroade upon other thinges the force engraffed in them and to drawe these unto them, or to put these from them, or to give them vertue by some other meanes, as the lode stoane draweth Iron, and amber strawes, or as the Diamante and Garlike take away the vertue of the lode stoane: and so by this orderly and lincked composition ofthinges Iamblichus, Proculus, and Sinesius, accordinge to the opinion of the Magitians doo confirme that not onely the naturall and celestiall giftes but the intellectuall and heavenly also maie be receaved from above: the whiche Proculus confesseth in the booke of Sacrifice, and Magicke, to witte, that by suche consent of thinges Magitians were wonte to binde sprites. For some of them are fallen into so greate a madnesse, that they beleve, that with divers constellations of Starres rightly observed by distaunce of time, and with a certain order of proportions, by the consent of heavenly sprites, an image made maie receave the sprite of life, and understandinge, whereby he giveth answeare to them that will demaunde and thing, and reveleth the secretes of hidden verity. Hereby it is manifest, that this naturall Magicke sometimes enclineth to Geocie, and Theurgie, oftentimes it is entangled in the craftes and errours of ye devils of hell.

"I have keen perception or discernment." (1828)

From An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language, by Francis Edward Jackson Valpy (London, 1828):

"Sāga, a wise woman, witch. From sagio, (whence praesagio): 'I have keen perception or discernment.'"

Beneficial Witchcraft in John Trevisa's Middle English Translation of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon (1387)

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In 1387, John Trevisa finished his (Middle) English translation of the Polychronicon of Ranulf Higden, a chonicle of "universal history" written in Latin a few decades earlier. In Trevisa's translation one finds multiple examples of the Middle English "wicche".

In one place, Trevisa translates Higden's "sortligeia" and "superstitiones" as "sortilege" and "wicchecraft". This is in reference to the much sought after magical ability that certain women on the Isle of Man were reputed to have. These women sold bundles of "wind" to sailors, and these bundles could be used to raise winds when and where needed during their sea journeys. This is found at the beginning of Chapter XLV. (You can check it out here: http://books.google.com/books?id=4Pg9AAAAcAAJ).

Amazingly, Ronald Hutton stated during a 2010 "research" trip to the Isle of Man that "in the medieval/early modern period people believed witchcraft as something nasty that human beings do to each other"! (see: Manx Witchcraft and Sorcery Probed by Academic, iomtoday.com.im, dated Jan. 21, 2010)

Witches As Healers in Piers Plowman (ca. 1370)

From: A "medicyne of Wordes": Women, Prayer, and Healing in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-century England, by Stephanie Lynn Volf:

"If bodily illness could prompt emotional disorder of the mind, the Galenic tradition makes clear that corporeal distress could affect one's woul as well. This relationship will become important in the Christian West, since many emotions fell under the heading of sin (anger, jealousy, lust, etc.). Perhaps this explains why so many medieval moral treatises so carefully emphasize patience when suffering. A real fear existed that illness may lead to sin and damnation, as in the case of the character Haukyn in Piers Plowman. Haukyn complains that when his desires are thwarted, he reacts so emotionally that he falls into an illness. This sickness proves so resistant to treatment that he eventually rejects hope in Christ's providence and turns to witchcraft to alleviate it."
[p. 169]

From Piers Plowman, by William Langland:

'Ther is no lif that I lovye lastynge any while;
For tales that I telle no man trusteth to me.
And whan I may noght have the maistrie, swich malencolie I take
That I cacche the crampe, the cardiacle som tyme,
Or an ague in swich an angre, and som tyme a fevere
That taketh me al a twelvemonthe, til that I despise
Lechecraft of Oure Lord and leve on a wicche,
And seye that no clerc ne kan - ne Crist, as I leve -
To the Soutere of Southwerk, or of Shordych Dame Emme,
And seye that [God ne] Goddes word gaf me nevere boute,
But thorugh a charme hadde I chaunce and my chief heele.'
[13.330 - 341]

"Thou art so wise, people will take thee shortly for a Witch" ("The Captain", John Fletcher, 1612)

From The Captain, by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont, first performed in 1612.

ACT I, SCENE II.

Enter Frank, and Clora.

Clo. Do not dissemble Frank, mine eyes are quicker
Than such observers, that do ground their faith
Upon one smile or tear ; y'are much alter'd.
And are as empty of those excellencies
That were companions to you ; I mean mirth
And free disposure of your blood and Spirit,
As you were born a mourner.

Fran. How I prethee ?
For I perceive no such change in my self.

Clo. Come, come, this is not wise, nor provident
To halt before a Cripple : if you love.
Be liberal to your friend, and let her know it,
I see the way you run, and know how tedious
'Twill prove without a true companion.

Fran. Sure thou wouldst have me love.

Clo. Yes marry would I,
I should not please ye else.

Fran. And who for Heavens sake ?
For I assure my self, I know not yet :
And prethee Clora, since thou'lt have it so
That I must love, and do I know not what :
Let him be held a pretty handsome fellow.
And young, and if he be a little valiant
'Twill be the better ; and a little wise,
And faith a little honest.

Ckr. Well I will sound ye yet for all your craft.

Fran. Heigh ho ! Fie love no more.

Clo. Than one ; and him
You shall love Frank.

Fran. Which him ? thou art so wise
People will take thee shortly for a Witch :
But prethee tell me Clora, if I were
So mad as thou wouldst make me, what kind of man
Wouldst thou imagine him ?

Clo. Faith some pretty fellow.
With a clean strength, that cracks a cudgel well
And dances at a Wake, and plays at Nine-holes.

Et In Arcadia Ego: Romanticism before the "Romantic Period"

The "Romantic" period (beginning somewhere between 1750 and 1800) was obviously a turning point in the history of Paganism. On this point there can be no reasonable doubt. But it is essential to understand the continuity between so-called Romanticism and cultural trends that were already well established long before Goethe started getting his Sturm und Drang on.

In fact, over four centuries before Messrs Guillotine and Robespierre teamed up, or whatever other historical marker you wish to choose for the beginnings of "Romanticism", there was a great flourishing of pastoralism starting way back at the first glimmerings of the Renaissance. Although these two terms, Romanticism and pastoralism, are infamous for meaning anything, everything and nothing, we can say quite specifically that pastoralism shares with Romanticism these two essential characteristics ("essential" that is, for understanding the role of both pastoralism and Romanticism in Pagan history): 1. a self-conscious orientation toward and emulation of the Pagan past, and 2. an equally self-conscious orientation toward and reverence for Nature. Pastoralism and Romanticism also share a common cast of characters and recurring themes, including especially: Arcadia, Pan, Sylvanus, Faunus, nymphs, satyrs, shepherds and shepherdesses.

A very specific feature often associated with Romanticism, and with English Romantic poetry in particular, is classicism, and this is also a core feature of pastoralism. That is, both pastoralism and Romanticism take their inspiration not just from the Paganism of the past generally, but from classical Greco-Roman Paganism in particular (although not exclusively so). At the same time, one of the things that distinguishes the Pagan-centricity of Romanticism from that of pre-Romantic pastoralism, is that Romanticism does tend to be both more broadly focused on Paganism generally, and at the same time more specifically focused on more "indigenous"/"national" forms of pre-Christian religion, all the while still betraying a significant classical orientation as well. It is interesting to note that in the case of Italy, where pastoralism first exerts itself as a major cultural force in the Trecento, this distinction is blurred to the point of nonexistence due to the confluence of Italian nationalism and Romanophilia.

This post will not go into any great detail about specific examples of pastoralism, which will hopefully be remedied in future posts. For now I will just give the briefest of overviews focusing on a few early highlights, and then following that I will simply list a number of significant examples of Paganizing pastoralism in chronological order.

During the Italian Trecento, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio each authored important examples of pastoral poetry, taking their inspiration directly from Vergil's Eclogues (one of the classical pillars of pastoralism). Significantly, Sylvanus, the Roman God of the Woods (not to be confused with although often conflated with Pan), features quite prominently as the main character in one of Petrarch's Eclogues. The God Pan also made his presence felt in 15th century Florence. Lorenzo de' Medici himself composed a Platonizing Eclogue on "Pan and Apollo", and also commissioned the enigmatic painting "School of Pan" by Luca Signorelli. Poliziano and Naldi also composed Vergilian pastoral works dedicated to their "Magnificent" patron. Art historian Edith Balas has gone so far as to write that "Lorenzo, thoroughly imbued with the pagan spirit, founded a cult of Pan at Villa Carreggi, in which he identified the Florentine countryside as Arcady and his friends as shepherds." [Michelangelo's Medici Chapel: a new interpretation, p. 147]

A major event in Renaissance pastoralism was Jacques Amyot's 1559 French translation of Longus' Daphnis and Chloe. This quickly became a highly influenctial international literary sensation (and is now as much a fixture of French literature as the original is of Greek literature) and helped to increase even further the already significant popular interest in pastoral literature. George Thornely's 1656 English translation of Longus was based on Amyot's. It is worth mentioning that the God Pan is mentioned many dozens of times throughout this work. In Thornley's English translation Pan is mentioned explicitly fully 59 times, if we include Thornley's Introduction and Summaries.

English pastoralism dates back at least to  Alexander Barclay's 1514 Eclogues. Although not pastoral, Thomas Wyatt's 1530 (or so) poem, Mine Own John Poynz, is relevant because it praises Pan for surpassing Apollo in musicianship "many fold". But English pastoralism really only comes into full bloom with the ascension to King Edward's Chair of Elizabeth I (who reigned from 1558 to 1603). One of the more memorable episodes of Elizabethan pastoralism is the semi-legendary performance of the courtier/poet George Gascoigne when he, or so the story goes, delivered a verse oration to the Queen "clad like unto Sylvanus, God of the Woods," according to a contemporary account. Pastoral themes also appear in the works of Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare and many other writers of the day. This trend certainly appears to peak with Elizabeth and then to recede after her, although notable examples of pastoralism are still to come by writers including John Milton and Alexander Pope.

Below are just a few of the highlights of pastoral literature and art prior to the year 1800. Special attention is given to English pastoral literature, and especially to literature in which Arcadia and/or one or more of the Gods Pan, Sylvanus and Faunus play prominent roles. Many of the authors in question are far from obscure, such as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson and John Milton.

Some significant examples of pastoral literature prior to 1800

ca. 1319 Eclogues, Dante  (Latin)
1357 Bucolicum Carmen, Petrarch  (Latin)
1367 Bucolicum Carmen, Boccaccio  (Latin)
ca. 1465 Apollo and Pan, Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492)  (Italian)
ca. 1480 Orfeo, Poliziano   (Italian)
1504 Arcadia, Jacopo Sannazaro  (Italian)
1514 Eclogues, Alexander Barclay  (English)
ca. 1530 Mine Own John Poynz, Sir Thomas Wyatt  (English)
1554 Menina e moça, Bernadim Ribeiro (Portuguese)
1559 Daphnis and Chloe, French translation by Jacques Amyot (French)
ca. 1559 Diana, Jorge de Montemor  (Spanish)
1575 Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth Castle, George Gascoigne (English)
1579 The Shepheardes Calendar, Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)   (English)
1579 Endymion, John Lyly (English)
ca. 1581 The Arraigment of Paris, George Peel  (English)
1590 The Fairie Queene, Edmund Spenser (English)
ca. 1590 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, Christopher Marlowe (English)
ca. 1590 Arcadia, Philip Sidney (English)
ca. 1590 Renunciation, Edward de Vere, the seventeenth Earl of Oxford (English)
ca. 1593 A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare  (English)
ca. 1599 As You Like It, William Shakespeare   (English)
1600  Faunus and Meliflora, John Weever  (English)
1605 The Queene's Arcadia, Samuel Daniel (English)
1605 Don Quixote, Cervantes (Spanish)
1607 L'Orfeo, Claudio Monteverdi (Italian)
1608 The Faithful Shepherdess, John Fletcher (English)
1616 To Penshurst, Ben Johnson ("Where Pan and Bacchus their high feasts have made') (English)
1637 Et In Arcadia Ego, Nicholas Poussin (painting, French)
1645 Lycidas John Milton  (English)
1656 Daphne and Chloe, George Thornley's English translation
1667 Paradise Lost, John Milton 
1683 Venus and Adonis, John Blow
1709 Pastorals, Alexander Pope
1714 The Sphepherd's Week John Gay
1717 L'Embarquement pour Cythere, Antoine Watteau (painting, French)
1725 The Gentle Shepherd, Allan Ramsay
1728 Beggar’s Opera, A Newgate Pastoral, John Gray
1752 Le devin du village ("The Village Soothsayer"), Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1772 Arcadia, A Pastoral Poem, William Jones
1788 Morning Dream, William Cowper