The Passionate Shepherd To His Love

The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

^ Donne, John (1896). Chambers, E. K. (ed.). Poems of John Donne . Vol. I. London: Lawrence & Bullen. pp. 47–49 . Retrieved 12 August 2014 .

^ Williams, William Carlos (1962) [1944]. "Raleigh Was Right". Collected Poems 1939–1962 . Vol. II. New York: New Directions . Retrieved 12 August 2014 .

^ Nash, Ogden (2011). "Love under the Republicans (or Democrats)" . marcopolopoet.nl . Retrieved 12 August 2014 .

^ Snodgrass, W. D. (2014). "Invitation" . Verse Daily . Retrieved 12 August 2014 .

^ Conversation Pieces: Poems That Talk to Other Poems: Kurt Brown, Harold Schechter . Everyman's Library. 2007. ISBN 978-0307265456 .

^ Bush, Geoffrey ; Hurd, Michael , eds. (1974). Invitation to the Partsong . Stainer & Bell.

^ Greene, Robert ; Marlowe, Christopher ; Jonson, Ben (1902). Bell, Robert (ed.). The Poems of Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson . London: G. Bell & Sons. pp. 231 -232.

" The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ", known for its first line "Come live with me and be my love", is a poem written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe .

The poem was published in 1599, six years after the poet's death. In addition to being one of the best-known love poems in the English language, it is considered one of the earliest examples of the pastoral style of British poetry in the late Renaissance period. It is composed in iambic tetrameter (four feet of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable), with seven (sometimes six, depending on the version) stanzas each composed of two rhyming couplets. It is often used for scholastic purposes for its regular meter and rhythm. [ citation needed ]

The poem was the subject of a "reply" by Walter Raleigh , called " The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd ". The interplay between the two poems reflects the relationship that Marlowe had with Raleigh. Marlowe was young, his poetry was romantic and rhythmic, and in the Passionate Shepherd he idealises the love object (the Nymph). Raleigh was an old courtier and a poet himself. His attitude is more realistic or jaded, and, in writing "The Nymph's Reply", he rebukes Marlowe for being naive and juvenile in both his writing style and the Shepherd's thoughts about love.

In about 1846 the composer William Sterndale Bennett set the words as a four-part madrigal . [6]

In the 1939 film The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex , both poems are sung as a duet by Mistress Margaret Radcliffe ( Nanette Fabray ), singing Marlowe's original words, and Lady Penelope Gray ( Olivia de Havilland ) taking Raleigh's rebuttal. The performance infuriates Queen Elizabeth ( Bette Davis ) whose doomed love for Robert Devereaux, 2nd Earl of Essex ( Errol Flynn ), 32 years her junior, is the subject of the story.

The line "Come live with me and be my love" was the inspiration for the 1941 film Come Live with Me , as well as the song "Come Live with Me" sung by Tony Scotti in the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls . It was also the third of the Liebeslieder Polkas for Mixed Chorus and Piano Five Hands , written by fictional composer P. D. Q. Bach ( Peter Schickele ) and performed by the Swarthmore College Chorus in 1980.

In "Birthday Madrigals" (1995) John Rutter sets both poems, giving Marlowe's words to tenors and basses, with the women singing Raleigh's reply, and the men singing over the women, changing the feel from question and reply to two people not listening each other.

The poem was adapted for the lyrics of the 1930s-style swing song performed by Stacey Kent at the celebratory ball in the 1995 film of William Shakespeare 's Richard III . Other songs to draw lyrics from the poem include The Prayer Chain song "Antarctica" (1996) from the album of the same name, and The Real Tuesday Weld song "Let It Come Down" from their album The Last Werewolf (2011). In 2015, the Royal Shakespeare Company used a version of the song in its production (set at the end of World War I ) of Much Ado About Nothing (under the name Love's Labour's Won ), played by the character Balthasar (Harry Waller), and sung by the whole cast.

Come live with me, and be my love;
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair linèd 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' 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. [7]

‘ The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ’ by Christopher Marlowe describes the life that a shepherd wishes to create for his lover if she agrees to come and live with him.

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Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” is a famous quote from William Shakespeare’s King Henry IV Part 2.

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‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ by Christopher Marlowe describes the life that a shepherd wishes to create for his lover.
‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ by Christopher Marlowe is a six stanza poem which is made up of sets of four lines, or quatrains . Each of these quatrains follows the consistent rhyming pattern of aabb ccdd… and so on. The poet has chosen to utilize this rhyming pattern in an effort to create a sing-song-like melody to the poem. It is a piece with a hopeful and pleasant tone , and the rhyme scheme emphasizes this feature.
The poem begins with the speaker asking his lover to come and be with him forever. If she does this simple thing, they will be able to experience all the joy that the world has to offer. They will have all the best in life.
He continues on to state that not only will they be happy in their love, but that he will create for her the most lovely of items. He will use the flowers in their new abode to craft pieces of clothing like hats and petticoats. The shepherd will also use the wool from their lambs to make her dresses. He clearly believes that these items of clothing will be enough, along with his love, to entice her to live with him.
By the end of the piece, it is not clear whether or not she accepts his offer, but he seems to understand that it is up to her. He has done his best, and is awaiting her answer.
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.
The speaker of this poem, the “Passionate Shepherd,” begins by making the one request of his lover that serves as the basis for the rest of the poem. He at once lives up to his name as he asks his unnamed lover to “Come live with me.” He is hoping that she, upon hearing his request, will leave whatever life she is living behind, and come and “be [his] love” wherever he may be.
He does not leave her without some idea of what it will be like to live with him, in fact, he spends the majority of the rest of ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ describing to his love what her life will be if she agrees.
The second half of this first quatrain describes how when the two of them are together, with nothing standing between them, they will “all the pleasures prove.” They will venture out into the world and “yield,” or take, from the “Valleys, groves, hills and fields / Woods, or steepy mountain[s],” everything they have to offer. There will be nothing in the world from which the couple cannot feel passion.
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
In the second stanza of ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ , the speaker goes on to describe some day to day details of what their lives would be like together. He states that they will “sit upon the Rocks” of this new and beautiful world they are living in together and “See” the “Shepherds” with their flocks of sheep. They will observe the world that they used to live in, and appreciate its intricacies.
Due to the fact that their lives are now devoted to one another and to the world they inhabit, they have time to notice the details around them. They will see and hear the “shallow Rivers,” and the “Melodious birds” which sing to the crashing of the falling water. The songs the birds sing will be like “Madrigals,” or harmonious pieces of music written for multiple voices.
And I will make thee beds of Roses
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;
The shepherd still has a number of different enticements to offer his lover in the hope that she will join him. He describes how he will “make [her] a bed of Roses.” He will fill her life with flowers by creating for her a “kirtle” or an outer gown, and a “cap,” which will all be “Embroidered…with the leaves of Myrtle,” a common flowering shrub.
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
In the fourth quatrain and the halfway point of ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ , the speaker continues on describing the different pieces of clothing and accessories that he will craft for his lover. It is important to remember that all of these items are contingent on her coming to live with him.
He will spin for her a “gown made of the finest wool” from the lambs that they will tend together. His occupation is now working in her favor and he is able to make her exactly, what he thinks, she wants.
He does not neglect her feet and states that she will also have “Fair lined slippers” that she can wear when it gets cold. Her buckles on her shoes will be made of the “purest gold.”
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
In the second to last stanza, he begins to conclude his offer. He finishes up describing the wardrobe she will have by describing her gaining a belt made “of straw and Ivy buds.” It will also feature “Coral clasps and Amber studs.” It is clear that the speaker is doing his utmost to find and describe things that he thinks she wants the most. Whether this is the case or not the reader will never know.
In the second half of the stanza, he repeats his request that if only she will “live with [him]” all “these pleasures” will be hers.
The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
In the final section of ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ the speaker describes how after she has accepted his offer the “Shepherds’ Swains,” or their comrades and lovers, will “dance and sing.” All people will “delight” in the fact that they are finally together as they should be.
In the last two lines, he repeats, for the third time, his offer. He asks that if “these delights” move “thy mind” then she should come “live with [him], and be [his] love.”
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Baldwin, Emma. "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/christopher-marlowe/the-passionate-shepherd-to-his-love/ . Accessed 13 October 2022.

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The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten--
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.

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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 the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered 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' 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.
The Elizabethan poet, playwright, and translator Christopher Marlowe was baptized on February 26, 1564 in Canterbury, England.
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