Why do you think pastoralism arose in the same time period as naturalism despite their different themes or approaches to literature? Do you think pastoralism was trying to recapture romanticism? Was there a need at the time for the type of literature that pastoralism created?

Romantic ideals in the early to mid-nineteenth century were shattered by the Civil War. Americans grew disillusioned by the war. They didn't agree with the glorious depiction of war that romantic literature tried to capture, both during and after the war. This disillusionment led writers to take a different perspective in their literature. Literary movements such as realism, naturalism, and pastoralism were the result. While realism and naturalism embraced scientific principles, pastoralism attempted to recapture romanticism by portraying the simple life. During the post-Civil War period, some writers felt that there was a need to show that romantic literature, as a whole, was not forgotten. Pastoralism depicted the beauty of a simple life, in particular, that of a shepherd’s, in order to recapture romanticism. Plato