The pastourelle (; also ''pastorelle'', ''pastorella'', or ''pastorita'' is a typically
Old French
Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who bests him in a battle of wit and who displays general coyness. The narrator usually has sexual relations, either consensual or rape, with the shepherdess, and there is a departure or escape. Later developments moved toward pastoral poetry by having a shepherd and sometimes a love quarrel. The form originated with the troubadour poets of the 12th century and particularly with the poet Marcabru ( pastorela).
This troubadour form melded with goliard poetry and was practiced in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and Occitania until the '' Carmina Burana'' of ''c.'' 1230. In Spanish literature, the pastourelle influenced the '' serranilla'', and fifteenth century pastourelles exist in French, German, English, and Welsh. One short Scots example is '' Robene and Makyne''. Adam de la Halle's ''Jeu de Robin et Marion'' (the game of Robin and Maid Marion) is a dramatization of a pastourelle, and as late as
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the House of Tudor, Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is re ...
the pastourelle is referred to in book six of ''
Faerie Queene
''The Faerie Queene'' is an English Epic poetry, epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and ov ...
*Paden, William D. "Pastourelle" in Alex Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan, eds., ''The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.'' Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993. p. 888.