The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is, on the surface, a romantic poem told from the perspective of a shepherd calling out to a nymph who he hopes will be enticed to living with him. He sets forth an image of crystilline tranquilty, a paradise frozen in amber where the two will be happy for the rest of the foreseeable future.
The poem’s first lines read “Come live with me and be my love/ and we will all the pleasures prove” (Marlowe lines 1-2). Already there are promises being given to the as of yet unnamed love, only alluded to in the poem’s title. The speaker is already using a rather seductive tone to allure his love, and even though it is unclear as to what kind of life he may lead, he assuredly has much to promise and will bestow lavish gifts to his intended audience. It is then hinted, “That valleys, groves, hills and fields,/Woods or steepy mountain yields.” (Marlowe 3-4) that perhaps we are not involved with a speaker who resides in an urban setting or certainly not a scholar. There is slant rhyme capping the first two lines of this quatrain, an element and tool utilized much more frequently in poetry of the era than today. There is already an established tone of assurance and a gentle introduction on the behalf of Mr. Marlowe.
The second stanza is much more detailed in its intent. The second stanza, beginning with a couplet of “There we will sit upon the rocks,/And see the shepherds feed their flocks,/By shallow rivers to whose falls/Melodious birds sing madrigals” (Marlowe lines 5-8) provides both a lovely image of a couple watching and an understated explaination owing to why the speaker is involving nature...
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...Come live with me and be my love.” (Marlowe lines 19-20) It’s interesting to note how quickly Marlowe moves from jewelry and repeats his invitation with absolutely no promise of emotional connection or longevity.
The next stanza begins with another example of alliteration “The shepherds’ swains shall dance and sing/For thy delight each May morning:” (Marlowe lines 21-22). Almost as if a last effort to entice the nymph with the promise of lavish treatment and personal delight, the shepherd promises that not only his but all the shepherds’ assistants will personally sing to the nymph each morning, though perhaps this is only my interpretation after reading the response. The final couplet “If these delights thy mind may move,/Then live with me and be my love.” (Marlowe lines 23-24) repeats the opening couplet and solidifies the shepherd’s invitation.
Stanzas one and two of the poem are full of imagery. The first stanza sets the scene for the poem “in a kingdom by the sea” (Poe 609) which makes you feel as if the story is going to have a “romantic” (Overview) feel to it. Then Annabel Lee comes into the story with “no other thought than to love and be loved by me” (Poe 609); This sentence is full of imagery in the sense that it makes you feel the immense capacity of love Annabel Lee had for the speaker if that was her only thought. In the second stanza the imagery takes a turn that shifts from loving and inviting to pain; The love between Annabel and the speaker was so strong that
The first two stanzas focus on his relationship with nature and society. Stanza one focuses primarily on his relationship with nature. The first
Millay uses romantic language. That is evident in the first line, "Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink". The romantic aspect of love is shown in the language of this poem. The poem is not directly about two lovers. It is more indirect, this is what two lovers may face. Her language is picturesque. "Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink / And rise and sink and rise and sink again;" It is as if the poem was showing a picture of a man in the sea that is struggling to survive and throughout the course of bobbing up and down he continues to see a pole or paddle, but he just can't reach it. There are more ideas that can be pictured easily throughout the poem, because of the language that Millay uses. "Love can no fill the thickened lung with breath, / Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;" These lines create an interesting picture in your mind.
The proposal, we presume, happens in the poem and the unwillingness we believe to be married, is also v...
In the second stanza, we are presented with golden wedding bells. This stanza has a total of twenty-one lines. These two things together seem to symbolize that the golden period in ones life happens in their twenties. The third line in this stanza, " What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!" tells of a marriage between two people. The new couple will be joined together in harmony, creating a world of happiness. Reference to a turtle-dove in this stanza symbolizes peace in this period of life. Compared to the first stanza, which used words such as "twinkle" and "tinkle", the second stanza gives off a more mature feel with words like "rapture" and "impel." The third stanza also refers to the future, as people at this age start thinking seriously about their future. In the first two stanzas, the bells are of desired metals, and the reader interprets them as positive sounds
This essay is anchored on the goal of looking closer and scrutinizing the said poem. It is divided into subheadings for the discussion of the analysis of each of the poem’s stanzas.
Although this section is the easiest to read, it sets up the action and requires the most "reading between the lines" to follow along with the quick and meaningful happenings. Millay begins her poem by describing, in first person, the limitations of her world as a child. She links herself to these nature images and wonders about what the world is like beyond the islands and mountains. The initial language and writing style hint at a child-like theme used in this section. This device invites the reader to sit back and enjoy the poem without the pressure to understand complex words and structure.
Comparing The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd. and the stark contrast of the treatment of an identical theme, that of love within the framework of pastoral life. I intend to look at each poem separately to give my interpretation of the poet's intentions and then discuss their techniques and how the chosen techniques affect the portal of an identical theme. The poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love appears to be about the Elizabethan courtly ideal of living with the barest necessities, like.
The purpose of the sorrowful imagery in "The Garden of Love" was to create a negative mood and the purpose of the love-filled diction was to create a positive mood, but to take it one step further one must ask what the purpose of establishing these contrasting moods in each poem? "The Garden of Love" contains depressing images and has a gloomy mood to portray hell as the epitome of depression and negativity whereas "The Shepherd" contrasts this setting by using friendly diction to create a joyful mood to portray heaven as the quintessence of joy and peace.
In the beginning, there is a peaceful, blissful atmosphere to the poem. Imagery of light amidst the darkness of the night is created by the use of words such as "gleams," "glimmering" and "moon-blanch'd". The speaker seems excited by the sweet night-air and the lively waves that fling the pebbles on the shore as we see by the exclamation marks in the sixth and ninth lines. The waves "begin, and cease, and then again begin," much as life is an ongoing process of cessation and rebirth. The first stanza is quite happy until the last two lines when the "tremulous cadence slow, and bring/ the eternal note of sadness in." This phrase causes the poem's tone to change to a more somber one
In the first stanza of the poem , the surrounds of the two people is discussed.
Foremost, in the first stanza, Plath gives the visual imagery of a woman taking a walk in the midst of spring with her lover. What ordinarily would be a pleasant image, is depicted as very formal and dull as the walk is “ceremonious” and the male companion is not a romantic lover, but is rather just one of the woman’s suitors (line 2). By using such words as “ceremonious” and “suitor” to explain what may seem as an enjoyable experience on the surface, the woman implies that she is indifferent towards the man and just walks with him to keep up appearances or in other words to do what is customary with the norms of courtship. The woman also reveals a considerable amount of displeasure “...
In relation to structure and style, the poem contains six stanzas of varying lengths. The first, second, and fourth stanzas
The Passionate Shepherd to his Love and The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd are both four line stanzas. They are both pastorals as well which means that the are replies to each other. The Nymph is replying to the Shepherd saying that he really doesn’t love her saying his love is fake.
Browning's amazing command of words and their effects makes this poem infinitely more pleasurable to the reader. Through simple, brief imagery, he is able to depict the lovers' passion, the speaker's impatience in reaching his love, and the stealth and secrecy of their meeting. He accomplishes this feat within twelve lines of specific rhyme scheme and beautiful language, never forsaking aesthetic quality for his higher purposes.