SOURCE: "The Shepherd's Week," in John Gay: Poet "Of a Lower Order," Natur Och Kultur; Broderna Lagerstrom AB, 1964, pp. 105-167.

In the following excerpt, Forsgren. examines Gay's pastoral poems in both their political and their literary contexts, discussing The Shepherd's Week's connections not only to classical antecedents, but to Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar and his peer Pope's pastorals, including "Windsor Forest." Forsgren maintains that the period of peace following the treaty of Utrecht during the reign of the Stuart Queen Anne was an important influence in the revival of pastoral poetry during the early eighteenth century.

The Shepherd's Week contains elements which would justify its place not only in this volume. But as its quality of a political Gelegenheitsgedicht has hitherto been overlooked by critics, the poem will be treated of in this context.

Gay's Eclogues pay homage to the period of peace after Utrecht and to those who...