Arcadia

Arcadia names an idealized pastoral world of peace, simplicity, and harmony with nature. In poetry, it usually does not mean the real Greek region alone, but a literary landscape where shepherds, fields, and quiet rural life stand for innocence, freedom, or a lost golden age. Poets use Arcadia to suggest a world untouched by city life and its pressures.

Originally a mountainous area in the Peloponnese; then a symbol for idyllic rural life. Virgil's Eclogues were set in Arcadia. See also pastoral.

Example

Beyond the ??? of the town, I pictured Arcadia:
lamplit barns, a slow stream,
and sheep moving like clouds across the hill.

Related Definitions

[n] a department of Greece in the central Peloponnese

Links

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace