'The pastoral poem has its roots in the classical conception of the golden age of Eden, where all of mans' needs were met by nature. When studying pastoral poetry it is important to consider that the style, by definition must also contemplate the pleasures of the countryside. Commonly written by urbanites, for urbanites, it is understandable then, that such poetry could be used as a means to escape the complexity and intrigue of courtly life, by trading on the nostalgia that the genre has its foundations in. However, the typical sophistication of the writer may mean that he is unwilling to limit himself to mere praise of rural life, and may use the poetry to reflect other, more complex conceits. Whilst, as said before, the genre has its root in classical civilisation, the poetry considered in this unit dates from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the poems selected to aid the consideration of the above suggestion are; 'The Golden Age', from Arthur Golding's 'Ovid’s Metamorphoses' (1567), 'The passionate shepherd to his love' by Christopher Marlowe (1599), and Sir Walter Ralegh's 'The nymph’s reply to the shepherd' (1600).'