Plots
- Lament: shepherd perceives an impending danger, deplores contemporary misery and wails over the golden era; the past is irrevocably gone and the future has nothing to offer
- Paragon: shepherd and cowherd rival in their courtship for a nymph and start a contest in singing or playing their typical instruments (flute, lyre)
- Courtship of shepherds: shepherds praises a beloved female, often by using rustic speech as opposed to courtly finesse: "Thy lippes resemble two Cowcumbers faire, / Thy teeth like to the tuskes of fattest swine" (Robert Green: Dorons Eclogue joynd with Carmelas from Menaphon)