Arcadia: Difference between revisions

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* Sir Philip Sidney's ''[[Old Arcadia|The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia]]''.

* The [[Christopher Marlowe]] poem "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love". Walter Raleigh's response "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" is a [[Deconstruction]].

* In ''[[Don Quixote]]'', at the end of the book, Quixote considers leaving being a [[Knight in Shining Armor|knight]] to become an ~~arcadian~~ shepherd instead. Pastoral tropes in general are deconstructed and parodied in the novel: The real shepherds are [[Country Mouse~~|CountryMouses~~]] ignorant people who have enough common sense and work as ~~sheperds~~ by need. They want to help and are sympathetic enough. The problem comes when a lot of [[City Mouse~~|CityMouses~~]] try to invoke this trope:

* In ''[[Don Quixote]]'', at the end of the book, Quixote considers leaving being a [[Knight in Shining Armor|knight]] to become an Arcadian shepherd instead. Pastoral tropes in general are deconstructed and parodied in the novel: The real shepherds are [[Country Mouse]]s ignorant people who have enough common sense and work as shepherds by need. They want to help and are sympathetic enough. The problem comes when a lot of [[City Mouse]]s try to invoke this trope:

** At the Sierra Morena, Don Quixote [[Conversed Trope|converses this trope]] with the goatherds at Chapter XXI, delivering an [[Author Filibuster]], “Discourse on the Golden Age”, comparing the goatherds with [[Noble Savage]]s. [[Genre Blind|None of them understand a word]]. One of the goatherds sings a song, but he didn’t compose it (because he doesn’t know how), it was his uncle who composed it, a cleric who has studied.

{{quote|''All this long harangue (which might very well have been spared) our knight delivered because the acorns they gave him reminded him of the golden age; and the whim seized him to address all this unnecessary argument to the goatherds, who listened to him gaping in amazement without saying a word in reply''.}}

** In any Arcadia poem, one or various [[Love Martyr|shepherds complains about]] the shepherdess that ignores him. Marcela and Grisostomo deconstruct this at chapter XII – XIV, were the Shepherdess claims she is [[So Beautiful It's a Curse]] and so she had to be a shepherdess only to get her freedom, but all the [[City Mouse~~|CityMouses~~]] [[Flock of Wolves|that court her decided to be shepherds too]]. and if that [[Spurned Into Suicide|Grisóstomo killed himself]], [[Fair for Its Day|is unjust to blame her]].

** In any Arcadia poem, one or various [[Love Martyr|shepherds complains about]] the shepherdess that ignores him. Marcela and Grisostomo deconstruct this at chapter XII – XIV, were the Shepherdess claims she is [[So Beautiful It's a Curse]] and so she had to be a shepherdess only to get her freedom, but all the [[City Mouse]]s [[Flock of Wolves|that court her decided to be shepherds too]]. and if that [[Spurned Into Suicide|Grisóstomo killed himself]], [[Fair for Its Day|is unjust to blame her]].

** Deconstructed again at chapter LII from the first part, Eugenio tells the story of the beautiful Leandra, who elopes with a soldier that left her. Leandra gets [[Locked Away in a Monastery]] while her various [[City Mouse|CityMouses]] admirers decided to become shepherds and make poems about how Leandra betrayed them… [[Insane Troll Logic|even when she never gave them any hope]]. Eugenio tells that all those shepherds curse Leandra’s indiscretion and they seem so unhappy that he lampshades that Arcadia is really a living hell. Eugenio then says he has decided to follow the easier way, claim [[All Women Are Lustful]] and become a [[Politically Incorrect Hero]] who hates all women.

** Parodied at the chapter LVIII of the Second Part: Don Quixote meets some beautiful shepherdess who are part of a crew of noble and rich people who invoke this trope by retiring to a forest to play to be shepherd and shepherdess. They are so sophisticated that they have studied two poems from Garcilaso (In Spanish) and Camoes (in Portuguese). [[Irony|Only the truly rich ~~CityMouse~~ can afford to live in a happy Arcadia]].

** Parodied at the chapter LVIII of the Second Part: Don Quixote meets some beautiful shepherdess who are part of a crew of noble and rich people who invoke this trope by retiring to a forest to play to be shepherd and shepherdess. They are so sophisticated that they have studied two poems from Garcilaso (In Spanish) and Camoes (in Portuguese). [[Irony|Only the truly rich City Mouse can afford to live in a happy Arcadia]].

** Don Quixote considers becoming a shepherd instead of a knight at the end of the second part, before he can invoke this trope, his housekeeper [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|tries to dissuade him by]] lampshading the truth:

** Don Quixote considers becoming a shepherd instead of a knight at the end of the second part, before he can invoke this trope, his housekeeper [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|tries to dissuade him by lampshading the truth]]:

{{quote|''will your worship be able to bear, out in the fields, the heats of summer, and the chills of winter, and the howling of the wolves? Not you; for that's a life and a business for hardy men, bred and seasoned to such work almost from the time they were in swaddling-clothes. [[Funny Moments|Why, to make choice of evils, it's better to be a knight-errant than a shepherd!]]}}

* In [[Aesop's Fables|Aesop's]] ''The City Mouse and the Country Mouse'', the [[City Mouse]] scorns the country life as simple, but when the [[Country Mouse]] visits, he discovers that the city is dangerous, and he is better off content in the country.

* The Shire in ''[[The ~~Lord of the Rings|~~Lord of the Rings]]''. The characters even make a point of not even letting the hobbits know Gondor and Rohan are duking it out against [[Mordor]].

* The Shire in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The characters even make a point of not even letting the hobbits know Gondor and Rohan are duking it out against [[Mordor]].

** On the other hand, the hobbits are also portrayed as unimaginative and parochial, which is atypical.

* In Edmund Spenser's ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', the shepherds are the only people who do not know of the Blatant Beast.

* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Honour Guard'', Saint Sabbat's background, as a herder in the mountains. {{spoiler|Consquently, Vamberfield's visions of her are also visions of Arcadia.}}

* The novel ''[[Ecotopia]]'' has the Northwestern US secede and become a separate country which is an Arcadian Nation. The protagonist is a reporter and visits the nation.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer 40,000]] [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel retreats from [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] to the memories of his childhood home, an Arcadian [[Shadowland]] to the [[Mordor|Eye of Terror]]. Only when his [[Dead Person Conversation|dead mentor Captain Idaeus]] appears to chide him does he return to the pain.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel retreats from [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] to the memories of his childhood home, an Arcadian [[Shadowland]] to the [[Mordor|Eye of Terror]]. Only when his [[Dead Person Conversation|dead mentor Captain Idaeus]] appears to chide him does he return to the pain.

* ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'': The background state of Oz is an Arcadia propped up by several potent pieces of nationwide magic (to the point where it hardly even has any death), punctuated by numerous settlements of bizarre people. Adventures consist of protecting Oz from outside invasion, from upset by one of the bizarre internal settlements, or (as in the first story) finding your way home by finding your way through Oz and environs to the Emerald City. So the Arcadian background winds up staying pretty firmly in the background.

* Maid Marian was a shepherdess in pastoral plays that were common at May festivities. (Then [[Robin Hood]] plays came into fashion, and someone did a [[Crossover]], and she shed her Arcadian roots as she joined the crew there. But she started out a shepherdess.)

* Mildly deconstructed in the Tiffany Aching ''[[Discworld]]'' sub-series, which make it clear that being a shepherd is bloody hard work, and birthing a lamb at three in the morning in the rain is not conductive to a peaceful life. But both the Chalk and Lancre are generally presented as simpler and "nicer" places than Ankh-Morpork, so Sir Pterry ~~does~~ play it more-or-less straight at times.

* Mildly deconstructed in the Tiffany Aching ''[[Discworld]]'' sub-series, which make it clear that being a shepherd is bloody hard work, and birthing a lamb at three in the morning in the rain is not conductive to a peaceful life. But both the Chalk and Lancre are generally presented as simpler and "nicer" places than Ankh-Morpork, so Sir Pterry did play it more-or-less straight at times.

** Not really. Ankh-Morpork is, in real-world terms, a cross between New York and New Jersey. Being nicer than Ankh-Morpork isn't hard; the bottoms of particularly uninviting wells are routinely nicer than Ankh-Morpork.

*** Which doesn't stop people from moving from places like Lancre to Ankh-Morpork.

* Hed, in [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''The Riddle-Master of Hed''

* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem [[Evangeline]], the ~~begining~~ of which is a ~~discription~~ of the French colony of Acadie.

* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem [[Evangeline]], the beginning of which is a description of the French colony of Acadie.

* The Two Rivers from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series, mostly shepherds with a scattering of farmers, check, [[Ghibli Hills]] in the mountains, check, believes in the [[Good Old Ways]], check. Small wonder that the [[~~Power Trio|Protaganists~~]] grew up there.

* The Two Rivers from ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' series, mostly shepherds with a scattering of farmers, check, [[Ghibli Hills]] in the mountains, check, believes in the [[Good Old Ways]], check. Small wonder that the [[Protaganist]]s grew up there.

* The vast majority of the ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' books by [[L. M. Montgomery]] are set in this trope (except goes to ''Anne of the Island,'' where she is in a city going to college), and her "Emily," "Story Girl," "Magic For Marigold," "[[A Tangled Web]]," and "Pat" books also fit the bill. On the other hand, "[[The Blue Castle]]" and "[[Jane of Lantern Hill]]" are about [[City Mouse|City Mice]] finding fulfillment in Arcadia - here embodied in Prince Edward Island.

* Pastoral literature is mocked extensively in [[David Eddings]]' [[The Elenium|The Tamuli]].