ABSTRACT
While the Aeneid is the most important presence in Aragon’s Resistance poetry, the Bucolics nevertheless offered him a framework for his evocation of France’s golden past. Aragon’s allusions to the Bucolics represent just one of many examples of the strong interest shown in Virgil’s pastoral world especially over the first half of the century. This chapter will focus on the pastoral in the early works of Gide and on the translations of the Bucolics by Valéry and Pagnol, before examining Giono’s contribution to the Virgilian heritage through his Introduction to a selection of Virgil’s poetry, Les Pages immortelles de Virgile, where he depicts his childhood in terms that constantly echo the Bucolics.
