A
pastoral lifestyle (see
pastoralism) is that of shepherds
herding livestock around open areas of
land according to
seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a
genre of literature, art and music that depicts such life in an idealized manner, typically for
urban audiences. A
pastoral is a work of this
genre, also known as
bucolic, from the
Greek , from , meaning a
cowherd.