Semiotic Shepherds: Gary Snyder, Frank O'Hara, and the Embodiment of an Urban Pastoral

Abstract

n his excellent study What Is Pastoral? Paul Alpers maintains that pastoral has long been a genre open to a variety of definitions and interpretations. It sometimes seems as if there are as many versions of pastoral as there are critics and scholars who write about it, Alpers muses at the beginning of this magisterial book (8). Still, several shared characteristics exist among the many versions that Alpers considers. One major point of agreement involves the pastoral space. Most critics who attempt some definition of the pastoral refer not only to a mode of writing but also to a space conducive to the themes that this writing seeks to express. In earlier work, Alpers himself has argued that a key aspect of pastoral literature is its creation of imaginative or a sovereign domain wherein one has the right to do as one pleases (Pastoral). Often, such an imagined space is marked by the play, or free rein, granted to those who enter its haven. In the pastoral space, one is able to play