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Ann Yearsley’s romantic poem The Indifferent Shepherdess to Colin, involves many link to relationships, as does Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus, however they both do in different ways. Yearsley’s poem is about romance and love. The swain called Colin has proposed to her and she has rejected because she knows acceptance will relegate her to a more subordinate status. She also wants Colin to be embarrassed because seduction would rob her of her independence.
The first relationship to notice is between Faustus and his student Wagner who represents someone who does not understand his master or what is happening to him. Wagner then tries to emulate Faustus in many things and tries to take it upon himself, to enable all the power his master displays. This can also be seen in Yearsley’s poem, where it is believed Colin, who is the swain, proposed to the character, which to the young lady is her giving away her freedom. ‘I’ll keep my liberty’ which shows she doesn’t want to loose her freedom and be controlled by anyone. This may be because of a past relationship, which has gone bad, and she therefore has trust issues or she may have fallen for someone to easily and quickly. This is similar to what has happened with Faustus and magic, and that has now come back to haunt him because he dies younger. Another comparison between these two passages is that they don’t want to be controlled and want to be dominating. However they both have ways of being dominated. E.g. Yearsley’s character would be tied into marriage where as Wagner would be Faustus’s student and would have to stick by him, which is clear, that’s not what he wants.
The proposal, we presume, happens in the poem and the unwillingness we believe to be married, is also v...

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...is playing the lyre to him, is hiding his feelings. This is because she becomes very frustrated ‘What arts need I display, to woo a soul like thine?’ This again, shows Colin’s cowardly attitude towards the girl, and how he used her in a way, that Faustus uses Mephistopheles.
The word’s used in Yearsley’s poem is a very romantic and dominant choice, however at the end of each line, the words tend to clash e.g. ‘mistake’ and ‘love’. You would not normally associate these two words to be together, and I think this adds to the overall tone of the poem and also sums up what the poem is all about. However when you look at Faustus, you begin to see a different kind of word choice with the words used here far darker such as ‘hell’ and ‘sin’. This makes the overall tone of the book have an envious tone and is contrasting with the poem, which is more about love and romance.