Read These Lines From the Passionate Shepherd to His Love
To His Love
A Poem by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
A Written report Guide
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Study Guide Prepared by Michael J. Cummings ... � 2006
Revised in 2010 . �
Blazon of Work
.......�The Passionate Shepherd" is a pastoral verse form. Pastoral poems more often than not center on the love of a shepherd for a maiden (as in Marlowe�s poem), on the death of a friend, or on the repose simplicity of rural life. The author of a pastoral poem may be an educated city dweller, like Marlowe, who extolls the virtues of a shepherd girl or longs for the peace and quiet of the country. Pastoral is derived from the Latin word pastor, meaning shepherd.
Setting
.......Chistopher Marlowe sets the poem in early bound in a rural locale (presumably in England) where shepherds tend their flocks. The use of the word madrigals (line 8)�referring to poems set up to music and sung by 2 to six voices with a single tune or interweaving melodies�suggests that the time is the sixteenth century, when madrigals were highly popular in England and elsewhere in Europe. However, the verse form could be about whatever shepherd of any age in any land, for such is the universality of its theme.
Characters
The Passionate Shepherd: He importunes a woman�presumably a immature and pretty land girl�to become his sweetheart and enjoy with him all the pleasures that nature has to offering.
The Shepherd�s Dear : The immature woman who receives the Passionate Shepherd�s bulletin.
Swains: Immature country fellows whom the Passionate Shepherd promises volition dance for his dearest.
Theme
....... The theme of �The Passionate Shepherd" is the rapture of springtime love in a uncomplicated, rural setting. Implicit in this theme is the motif of carpe diem�Latin for �seize the mean solar day." Carpe diem urges people to savor the moment without worrying virtually the future.
Writing and Publication Information
....... Marlowe wrote the poem in 1588 or 1589 while attention Cambridge University at its Corpus Christi College. It first appeared in print in poesy collections published in 1599 and 1600.
Meter
....... The meter is iambic tetrameter, with eight syllables (four iambic feet) per line. (An iambic human foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.) The following graphic presentation illustrates the meter of the first stanza.
- ........1................two...............iii...............iv
Come Live ..|..with ME ..|..and Exist ..|..my LOVE ,
......one...............2...............3..................4
And WE ..|..will ALL ..|..the PLEA ..|..sures PROVE
........1.................two..................iii...................four
That HILLS ..|..and VALL ..|..eys, DALE ..|..and FIELD ,
......1..................2.................3.................4
And ALL ..|..the CRAG ..|..gy Mountain ..|..ains YIELD .
....... In each stanza, the first line rhymes with the second, and the third rhymes with the quaternary.
Structure
....... The poem contains seven quatrains (four-line stanzas) for a total of twenty-8 lines. Marlowe structures the poem as follows:
Stanza 1 : .. .. .. The shepherd asks the young lady to "live with me and be my beloved," noting that they will savor all the pleasures of nature.
Stanzas two-4: The shepherd makes promises that he hopes volition persuade the young lady to take his proposal.
Stanzas 5-7: Subsequently making boosted promises, the shepherd twice more than asks the lady to "live with me and be my honey."
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By Christopher Marlowe
Come up live with me and be my Beloved,
And we will all the pleasures prove 1
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield.
There will nosotros sit upon the rocks.......................five
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals. ii
There will I make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,.......................x
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle 3
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle. iv
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs nosotros pull,
Fair lin�d slippers for the cold, .......................... fifteen
With buckles of the purest gold.
A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral 5 clasps and amber 6 studs:
And if these pleasures may thee motility,
Come live with me and be my Beloved.....................20
Thy silver dishes for thy meat
As precious every bit the gods do consume,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepared each day for thee and me.
The shepherd swains seven shall dance and sing.........25
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
So live with me and exist my Beloved.
Notes
1... testify: test, try out
2... madrigals: poems set to music and sung past two to six voices with
..... a single tune or interweaving melodies
3... kirtle: dress or skirt
4... myrtle: shrub with evergreen leaves, white or pink flowers, and dark
..... berries. In Greek mythology, a symbol of dear.
5... coral: yellowish carmine;
6... amber: yellow or brown yellowish
seven... swains: state youths.
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Figures of Speech
.......Post-obit are examples of figures of spoken language in the poem.
Alliteration
Line 2: And due west e w ill all the pleasures showHyperbole
Line five: There w ill w e sit upon the rocks
Line six: And see the shepherds f eed their f locks
Line 8: M elo d ious birds sing m a d rigals.
Lines 9-x: There will I make . . . / a thousand fragrant posiesMetaphor
Melodious birds sing madrigalsImages
Comparing of birdsong to poems set to music (madrigals)
....... Marlowe mixes images of objects made from nature (beds of roses, a cap of flowers, a belt of harbinger with ivy buds) with images of human being-made objects (gold buckles, silver dishes). His beloved thus volition receive the best of both worlds.
The Verse form�s Enduring Entreatment
.......Over the centuries, Marlowe�s little poem has enjoyed widespread popularity because it captures the joy of simple, simple love. The shepherd does not worry whether his condition makes him acceptable to the daughter; nor does he announced concerned well-nigh money or pedagogy. The futurity volition accept carry of itself. What matters is the moment. So, he says, let u.s. enjoy it�sitting on a rock listening to the birds.
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