It's a poem deeply invested in the tradition of pastoral poetry, pastoral poetry from Theocritus and Virgil onward.

这是一首深深植根于从忒俄克里托斯和维吉尔时代，不断发展而来的田园诗的传统中的诗。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选

One of the motives for his selection of this genre, the pastoral genre, is the tradition -and it's a tradition that goes all the way back to Theocritus and Virgil -that associates shepherds with poets.

他选择这个流派的动力之一，就是田园诗是一种传统,是一种可以追溯到忒俄克里托斯和维吉尔时代的传统,它把牧羊人和诗人紧密相连。

耶鲁公开课 - 弥尔顿课程节选