The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target audience is typically an urban one. A pastoral is a work of this genre. A piece of music in the genre is usually referred to as a pastorale.
The genre is also known as bucolic, from the Greek βουκολικόν, from βουκόλος, meaning a cowherd.
Yokel is one of several derogatory terms referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people. The term is of uncertain etymology and is only attested from the early 19th century on. It is considered a type of discrimination against people from rural environments.
Yokels are depicted as straightforward, simple, naïve, and easily deceived, failing to see through false pretenses. They are also depicted as talking about bucolic topics such as cows, sheep, goats, wheat, alfalfa, fields, crops, and tractors to the exclusion of all else. Broadly, they are portrayed as unaware of or uninterested in the rest of the modern world as it remains outside their own surroundings.
Moschus (Greek: Μόσχος) was an ancient Greek bucolic poet and student of the Alexandrian grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace. He was born at Syracuse, Magna Graecia, and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing of which survives.