Question?

I have a question I recently ran across the words bucolic pursuits, here is my question

what the heck are bucolic pursuits?

 

Well, a simple search for the meaning of bucolic would have evinced that it means all those things having to do with pastoral life, country living, cows, fields, wandering lovely paths through whispering woods, fishing, etc. Everything not city or town.

 

So it means outdoor activities like fishing or hunting any activity where a person has to be outside.

 

And particularly out in the countryside away from the city or town. For example, I would not personally think of a day playing Frisbee football in Piedmont Park to be exactly bucolic.

 

If you like to milk cows for fun, for example, that would be a bucolic pursuit. As would husbandry.

 

It's sometimes defined as 'idyllic rural life.' This wouldn't include big game hunting or anything terribly strenuous, risky or unpleasant. Just peaceful country life ...which is often a fantasy.

I think there is always an element of fantasy or unreality about this term. Floating down a calm river in a flat-bottomed rowboat with your sweetie, reading poetry ...that's buccolic. White water canoeing is not. Walking the dairy cows home for milking at sunset ...that's buccolic. Castrating calves is not.

 

Learn all about fictional portrayals of bucolic pursuits on TVTropes' page on Arcadia.