The passionate shepherd to his love

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

By … Christopher MarloweBy … Christopher Marlowe

Background Information of the poet …

- Born : 26 February 1564 Canterbury, England

- Died : 30 May 1593 (aged 29 ) Deptford , England . He was stabbed in a barroom fight by a drunken man.

- Occupation: A great Dramatist, playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.

- Literary movement : English Renaissance theatre

- Notable work(s)

Plays: The Jew of Malta, Edward the Second, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus .

Poetry : The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ,Hero and Leander

Supplement …

Marlowe greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlow . Many scholars believe that if Christopher Marlowe had lived longer, he might have become a greater dramatist than William Shakespeare.

Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that encourage Shakespeare to try it . Blank verse is any verse comprised of unrhymed lines all in the same meter, usually iambic pentameter .

Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English, again paving the way for Shakespeare.

“ The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ”

by … Christopher MarloweChristopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,And we will all the pleasures prove,

That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon rocks,Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose fallsMelodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,And a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtleEmbroider'd all with leaves of myrtle:

A gown made of the finest wool,Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,With buckles of the purest gold:

A belt of straw and ivy buds,With coral clasps and amber studs;

And if these pleasures may thee move,Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning;If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me and be my love.

Vocabulary Grove (L 3) ~ a group of tree that are closed together

Steepy (L 4) ~ rise at a very sharp angle and is difficult to go up

Madrigal (L 8) a song sung by several singers without any musical instruments

Posy (L 10) ~a small bunch of flowers

Kirtle (L 11) ~ gown

Embroider (L 12) ~ is the activity of stitching designs onto cloth

Gown (L 13) ~ is a dress, usually a long dress

Buckle (L16) ~ is a piece of metal attached to one end of the belt

Ivy (L 17) ~ an evergreen plant that grows up walls or along the ground

Coral (L 18) ~ a hard substance formed from the skeletons of very small sea animals. It is often used to make jewelry

Amber (L 18) ~ is a hard yellowish-brown substance used for making jeweler

Stud (L 18) ~ earring

Swain (L 20) ~ a young man who is in love

Type of Work and Year of Publication.

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a pastoral lyric, a poetic form that is used to create an idealized vision of rustic life within the context of personal emotion.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love was published in 1599 (six years after the poet's death).


setting

Christopher Marlowe sets the poem in early spring in a rural locale where shepherds tend their flocks.

That can clearly be seen in the images drown in the poem “Valleys” “groves” “hills” “fields” “mountain” “rivers” “flowers”.


Rhyme, Form & Meter

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” has a fairly simple form that fits its simple theme and language. It consists of six stanzas with four lines each, for a total of 24 lines.

The predominant meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. with eight syllables (four iambic feet) per line .

Ex: ........1................2...............3...............4 ..Come LIVE |..with ME..|..and BE |..my LOVE

The rhyme scheme is also simple : In each stanza, the first line rhymes with the second, and the third rhymes with the fourth. {aabb ccdd eeff gghh iiaa jjaa }


summary of the whole poem

It is a pastoral poem as said before which is generally centered on the love of a shepherd to a certain maiden. The shepherd pledged to do the impossible only to make the female accept his pleas. The poem displays sexuality and imposes young love.

The shepherd promises and offers many things to encourage the maiden, like romantic entertainment and clothing, as if the time will stand still. The nature seems to be idyllic too, as if the world is too safe and nothing can go wrong.


AnalysisFirst stanza…

The shepherd opens with an invitation to his love to come and live with him and they shall all the “pleasures prove". This immediate reference to pleasure gives a sexual tone to this poem , since He is not asking her to marry him but only to live with him. Some critics says that this invitation is of totally innocent, almost naive kind as the shepherd makes gently and directly calls to his love.

The shepherd implies that the entire geography of the countryside of England "Valleys, groves, hills and fields/Woods or steepy mountains" will prove to contain pleasure for the lovers.

Second stanza…

The second stanza suggests the perfect places were lovers should enjoy there love as the poet remind . They will watch shepherds feeding their flocks, or listening to waterfalls and the songs of birds “Melodious birds sing madrigals”.

This second stanza, if taken by itself, exemplifies the traditional pastoral theme of the restful shepherd watching his flocks, enjoying in quiet repose the countryside and all it offers. It is the idealization of the pastoral form, in which nature is safe, filled with "shallow rivers" and "melodious birds."

The third, fourth, and fifth stanzas… These three stanzas are a kind of list of the "delights" that the Shepherd will make for his lady. The list of the things he will make for his lady includes : "beds of roses" "thousand fragrant posies," "cap of flowers," …

The shepherd is like want to say: I will use roses to make beds decorated with a thousand sweet-smelling posies for you to lie. I will weave a flower cap, and make you kirtle fringed with myrtle leaves. We pull out of the finest wool from our lambs to make a pretty gown. And a pair of high-quality slippers will be made for you, to keep you from being cold. On the slippers I will put buckles, which was made of purest gold. Also, I will make you a belt of straw and ivy buds with coral clasps and amber studs. If these pleasure may touch your heart, come live with me and be my love.

The last stanza…

The shepherd asks the lady again to The shepherd asks the lady again to accept his accept his offeroffer if she finds that all the things he offers worth it . “The young shepherd shall dance and sing in each May morning to delight you, and if you may be touched by these delights, then live with me and be my love”.


Theme

Nature Idealization rather than realism : Marlowe paints a picture of idyllic nature without any of the real dangers that might be present. There are no responsibilities in this imaginary life.

Themes of youth, innocence, love, and beauty.

Some critics says that the image drawn by the poet is given bad tendency toward life. The poet is like saying “enjoy the moment without worrying about the future”. The Unrealistic view of things may consider one of the themes of this poem .


Images, Figures of Speech, Literary

Devices The poem appeals to the senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch.

"seeing the shepherds feed their flocks" --- sight "melodious birds sing madrigals" --- sound "a thousand fragrant poises, a cap of flowers"--- smell "sit upon the rocks"--- touch

Images of "shallow rivers", "melodious birds", "roses", "pretty lambs", and "ivy buds" evoke a nature that is pure and blooming. Marlowe mixes images of objects made from nature (beds of roses, a cap of flowers, a belt of straw with ivy buds) with images of man-made objects (gold buckles, silver dishes). His beloved thus will receive the best of both worlds.

Supplement…

Musical devices:

The poem combines alliteration (The shepherd's swains shall dance and sing), rhythm, and rhyme to create a song-like lyric.

the “ I " sound is repeated in the words "live", "love", "all", "hills", "shallow", "flocks", "falls" and "myrtle"

the “ M " sound occurs in "mountain", "madrigals", "myrtle", "lambs", and "amber"

the “ S " sound appears in the words "seeing", "shepherds", "shallow", "roses", "sing", and "swains"

Tone

Passionate, optimistic .

The Passionate Shepherd to His LoveSpeaker and Listener

The speaker is a passionate shepherd. He promises to his love a fanciful, and somehow an unrealistic future. The shepherd does not rank high in the society; he is probably not wealthy at all. However, he is a very poetic person, he that imply possible proposal in the poetry. This statement is seen from words such as bed, slipper, and kirtle. Those daily used subjects in the family.

The listener in this poem is the shepherd's lover. There are no clues on her personality or appearance.

Thanks for paying attention

Education

The passionate shepherd to his love