By: Ryleigh Simmons
You’re sitting on your couch, where you’ve been for the last few weeks. All of your classes are online and all non-essential stores are closed, not that you would risk going out anyways. You’re bored out of your mind, and you miss when things were normal. Your only solace is your phone where you can doomscroll on TikTok, but even that reminds you of the reality of the world outside your home. That is until you happen upon a video of people in long flowy skirts frolicking through their gardens or making homemade bread with “Soldier, Poet, King” by The Oh Hello’s playing in the background. This one video sparks a longing deep in your gut to be a part of that life where viruses and lockdowns no longer exist. And while this is a description of many people’s first interaction with the cottagecore lifestyle, it is not actually the start of this aesthetic, as the core is deeply rooted in a long-standing concept, the pastoral or in other words the longing to live a humble life in the countryside. Both the pastoral and cottagecore revolve around the themes of escape, connection with nature, and yearning for a simpler life, which speaks to the deep-seated desires of modern society.
The cottagecore hashtag appeared around 2018, but it didn’t reach a wide audience until the start of the pandemic. According to The Washington Post “cottagecore content on Tumblr increased by 153% between March and April [2020], and “likes” for that content increased by about 550% during the same time.” The trend also picked up popularity on Pinterest as the number of searches went up, and on TikTok, the trends’ hashtag had around 3.7 billion views as of August 31st, 2020 (Braff). These videos or posts normally consist of beautiful nature landscapes, flowers, teacups, woven baskets, and handmade crafts or food. The trend also consists of “peasant attire” which is loosely inspired by Marie Antoinette’s painting “La Reine en Gaulle” by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, where Marie Antoinette wears a white chemise, which at the time was seen as improper for looking too much like undergarments (Brand). Overall, the online trend seemed to create a life that centered around a “fantasy of escape to a cottage in the woods to live as if it were simpler times” and the desire for self-sufficiency (Brand). This trend is also set apart from others because, unlike other aesthetics and trends, such as the Y2K fashion trend, cottagecore doesn’t seem to represent a specific moment in history. Rather, cottagecore seems to be a “nostalgia for a fluid past,” where we pick and choose what to use from different times and apply our own element of fantasy to it; thus resulting in a trend that blurs the lines of fabrication and reality (Brand). It’s as if cottagecore is not about the physical elements but rather the feeling of longing or nostalgia for a time that never existed, which I believe is directly linked to the earlier history of the pastoral concept and the reason cottagecore became so popular.
To understand why cottagecore seems to be a yearning for an idealized version of the country and past, it’s important to look into the history of the pastoral, which is arguably the seed from which the cottagecore trend seemed to sprout. In the Hellenistic age (around 323 BC), after the death of Alexander the Great, Alexandria had become polluted, filthy, and disease ridden. The people of Alexandria were rightfully unhappy with this metropolis and devastating lifestyle, so they longed for simpler times, which is where Arcadia comes in (Halley). Arcadia is a mountainous region of Peloponnese of Ancient Greece ( “Arcadia | Arcadia, Map, Greece, & History”). The Alexandrians pushed their longing onto Arcadia and it began to represent a “untainted, yet benign countryside and the spiritual haven of a simple life (Halley).” Essentially Arcadia was no longer a geographical place but a mindset that represented an earthy paradise filled with woods, fields, and most importantly nothing related to urban life.
The romanticization of Arcadia is what sparked the start of the pastoral. More specifically, Theocritus (316-260) was the first to “genuinely invent” pastoral poetry (Greenberg). His writing consisted of Idylls, which introduced the “pastoral setting in which shepherds wooed nymphs and shepherdesses and held singing contests with their rivals (“Theocritus | Idyllic Poetry, Hellenistic Period, Sicilian.”).” Although his writing seemed to put shepherds and country folk on a pedestal, Theocritus wasn’t writing for the country folk, his target audience was the educated urban class who craved an escape to the countryside while keeping their privilege (Halley). Thus, pastoralism in terms of Theocritus’s poetry seems to be summed up by the definition that it is a “portrayal or expression of the life of shepherds or country people especially in an idealized and conventional manner (“Merriam-Webster Dictionary”).”
From there, the pastoral genre was picked up and became more famous when writers like the Latin poet, Virgil, began writing pastoral poetry, such as his Eclogues. Virgil was inspired by the Arcadian dream and the peace it offered, but he also, much like the Alexandriens, desired a way to escape the chaos, violence, and disorder of war going on around him (Brand). Thus, his style of poetry shifted and became an outlet to explore contemporary issues, while not directly engaging with the issue.
Through these examples of the pastoral, we see a few commonalities between the Alexandrians and the writers’ versions of the pastoral. All of them seem to have this desire for a life filled with simplicity and nature. They want to be a part of an environment that is untouched by the horrors of reality, and they dream of a place where they can escape the troubles in their lives. This illustrates how the pastoral ideals value both the unrealistically peaceful rural environment and the yearning to escape modern-day issues. This need for escape subtly calls attention to contemporary problems or the problems that need to be escaped, which is very popular in the pastoral and cottagecore lifestyle. It is also something to bring attention to because what does it say about a society if its people are escaping to a place or time made up mentally on their phones.
From the definitions and backgrounds of cottagecore and pastoralism, it’s easy to see how they are connected. Between these concepts, we see a similarity of a romanticized view of country living, its focus on nature, and its desire for peace. Because of these similarities, it’s easy to say that cottagecore was built around pastoral ideals. Looking at cottagecore through a pastoral lens shows a long-standing desire in our society to be connected to nature. However, this leads to the question of why we have this desire and why we have come back to the pastoral ideals in such a big way. The answer to these questions is actually in something previously discussed. Many of the people who partake in the pastoral lifestyle, such as the Alexandrians, Virgil, and cottagecore TikTokers, are all trying to escape from many forms of stress and trauma. For the Alexandians it was disease, for Virgil it was war, and for TikTokers it was the pandemic.
At the start of cottagecore’s revival during the 2020 pandemic, it seemed like the trend was an alternate version of lockdown where people got the idea that if they had to experience isolation, at least they could experience it with nature. That said, the pandemic also caused a lot of uncertainty, and it is proven that people hate uncertainty, so creating these fantastical lives was our way of adapting (Chaffee). Our phones were our escape into our own fantasy world where we had comfort, refuge and certainty, which is ironic if you think about the fact that cottagecore and pastoralism is about being away from modern technology.
Besides the pandemic, much of our desire to flee to the woods comes from our want for “domestic labour” or in other words work for personal growth and not for monetary gain. As stated above, participating in the cottagecore lifestyle revolves around self-sufficiency and getting away from urban living. This means that the aesthetic promotes creativity and not excessive production, exploitation of the natural environment, and aspiration to make financial gains. Thus, cottagecore is also a movement that rejects capitalism and hustle culture by not investing in the economy and instead encouraging people to handmake their own resources (Agnieszka). However, it is important to note that there is something of a paradox within the cottagecore movement as it advocates for people not to overconsume or take part in commercialism, but the movement takes place largely on social media and many creators get paid for their content. Yet the trend still teaches many people where to eliminate unnecessary consumerism and how to appreciate the act of creating where it can. And while pastoralism doesn’t seem to directly promote anti-capitalist ideals like cottagecore does since many of the past audience of this aesthetic was higher class, it does still cover the idea of breaking free from “civilization’s bewildering complexity, repressiveness, and brutality and even from history and its contingencies (Büsken).” So, although not directly stated in pastoralism, there are some qualities that can demonstrate this rejection of capitalism.
Another reason why cottagecore has become so popular is because the trend has created a safe space for femininity and queerness. As we’ve seen in the history of the pastoral, the idealized country made up in this genre seems to be a place where people have no worries and can just be; thus it is the perfect place for marginalized groups to find solace and get away from misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that many of the people who engage in cottagecore content happen to be queer women and non-binary folks. In Aria Tsvetanova article “Cottagecore, or why the pandemic made us embrace rural fantasy” they state that “It [cottagecore] has become an imagined reclamation of space that has traditionally shunned and discriminated against queer people (Tsvetanova).” For example, the term ‘cottagecore lesbian’ has been a staple of the cottagecore community because it’s accepting and it calls out the maltreatment many queer woman have been subjected to in modern urban society (Agnieszka). That said, it is important to point out that there is still a lack of inclusion in the cottagecore trend as there is not as much representation for people of color and of different body types.
So, to answer the question: what does the connection between the pastoral and cottagecore tell us about society? I believe the answer would be that it shows us that we are always searching for a way to be truly free. Moreover, it shows the evolution of the pastoral and how it has grown into this trend that stands for more than just escapism, but also activism. However, the connection between the two concepts also shows us underlying problematic ideals. The idea that most of the people participating in pastoralism were of a higher class and those most commonly seen in the cottagecore hashtag are white sets a non-inclusive precedent for the movements. Thus, it is important to analyze these trends to understand how they both benefit society and to criticize them where they may be problematic, because it is said that when our future collapses, we look for comfort from the past (Chaffee).
Works Cited
Agnieszka Wodzińska. “Institute of Network Cultures | Cottagecore as a Budding Anti-Capitalist Movement.” Networkcultures.org, 21 Jan. 2021, networkcultures.org/blog/2021/01/21/cottagecore/ Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
“Arcadia | Arcadia, Map, Greece, & History.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/place/Arcadia-region-Greece Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Braff, Danielle. “How the #Cottagecore Internet Aesthetic Dovetails with Pandemic Travel.” The Washington Post, 10 Sept. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/how-the-cottagecore-internet-aesthetic-dovetails-with-pandemic-travel/2020/09/10/3ae54032-ed39-11ea-99a1-71343d03bc29_story.html Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Brand, Leah. “Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture.” Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture, 25 June 2021, cmsmc.org/publications/crafting-cottagecore Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Büsken, Louisa, and Jena Germany. Seeking Refuge in Nature: Escapism and the Contemporary Pastoral Impulse in Cottagecore. 2024, www.aspeers.com/sites/default/files/pdf/b%C3%BCsken.pdf
Cannavò, Peter F. “American Contradictions and Pastoral Visions.” Organization & Environment, vol. 14, no. 1, SAGE Publishing, Mar. 2001, pp. 74–92, https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026601141004 Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Chaffee, Brittany. “Here’s Why Cottagecore Is Trending in 2020 | Artful Living Magazine.” Artful Living Magazine, 4 Nov. 2020, artfulliving.com/cottagecore-trend-2020-coronavirus-outbreak/ Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Greenberg, Joy. “Paradox, Place, and Pastoralism in the Works of Theocritus, Virgil, and Thoreau.” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, vol. 2, no. 4, Dec. 2008, pp. 443–62, research.ebsco.com/c/4gbcnm/viewer/pdf/rglznud4xv EBSCO. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Halley, Catherine. “Cottagecore Debuted 2,300 Years Ago – JSTOR Daily.” JSTOR Daily, 11 Nov. 2020, daily.jstor.org/cottagecore-debuted-2300-years-ago/ Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Higgins, Courtney Jay. “What Is the Cottagecore Aesthetic? And Why We Love It.” The Good Trade, 30 July 2024, www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-cottagecore/ Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
“Merriam-Webster Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster.com, 11 Mar. 2025, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pastoral Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
“Pastoral Literature | Definition, Characteristics & Examples.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/art/pastoral-literature Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
“Theocritus | Idyllic Poetry, Hellenistic Period, Sicilian.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/biography/Theocritus Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Tsvetanova, Aria. “Cottagecore, or Why the Pandemic Made Us Embrace Rural Fantasy.” The Rattlecap, 25 Nov. 2021, www.therattlecap.com/post/cottagecore-or-why-the-pandemic-made-us-embrace-rural-fantasy Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Sprockets and Springes 