The+Passionate+Shepherd+to+His+Love

//SStratton and HKeenawinna Period 3// By Christopher Marlowe
 * The Passionate Shepherd to His Love**

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe is a famous example of pastoral poetry. The purpose of pastoral poems is to celebrate the world of nature through simple lyrics. Heavy imagery and descriptive phrases show the many delights of nature. “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.” This shows the ways that he would incorporate nature into making the life of his love a carefree and simple one. It is also very easy to understand and interpret. Our first impression of the love letter was that it was written to a shepherdess or someone who would appreciate the speaker’s love of nature. The speaker described numerous pleasures that he would entitle “his love” to if she would choose to continue her life in his company. It seems that nature is what would seduce his love to be with the speaker. The speaker is using all the beauties of nature to get her to say she will live with him. “And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherd’s feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.” This is an example of the imagery the speaker uses to portray to “his love” the simple pleasures she would enjoy living with him in the countryside as a shepherd’s lover. The last thing we noticed about the letter was the lines “Then live with me and be my love.” This created an open invitation to whoever would accept his love; it seemed that the poem was not specifically directed towards a certain female, but more towards anyone who shared his love for nature.

[|Passionate Shepherd Poem]