What Is The Mood Of The Passionate Shepherd To His Love
The Elizabethan Era author and playwright, Christopher Marlowe, was a romantic writer who came
before his time. Being born hundreds of years before the romantic period around 300 to be exact, his
poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, could have and would have fallen perfectly within the
style of the romantic time period. In the poem, the shepherd beckons to his love, who has not yet
accepted his advances. He entices her with promises of lush fields, beds of roses and the opportunity
to dance and sing when she pleases. He uses precise and beautiful words to lure and persuade the
woman of his dreams to live with him and enjoy his bounties. Throughout the poem he boasts of
dressing her in gowns of the finest wool, slippers and belts with ... Show more content on
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For example, imagery is used immensely. Marlowe writes of A belt of straw and ivy buds, / With coral
clasps and amber studs... (Greenblatt). This type of precise, picturesque imagery further proves the
point this could be a romantic poem, adding to the tone of the full text. To describe something as
beautifully as Marlowe did shows the love the shepherd feels toward the woman in the poem. Also,
alliteration is accomplished as Marlowe articulates ideas on the page. There are many examples
offered in the text, such as: ...mind may move..., ...pleasures prove..., and ...feed their flocks...
(Greenblatt). This device allows the text to be more like a song, letting the reader s words flow off the
tongue in a tantalizing manner. To continue, the poem also contains consonance. In the line stating
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields... the end of the words in this line almost all end with the s sound
(Greenblatt). Just like the use of alliteration, the device of consonance assists the poem in flowing off
the tongue and creating more of a song than a poem. Additionally, Marlowe uses symbolism; however,
it is not used quite as literally as some other pieces of text. It is common for a rose to symbolise love
or many other feelings of the human heart, so it makes sense for the author to use it in line nine, where
it is written, And I will make thee beds of roses... (Greenblatt). Also, in the fourth stanza, Marlowe
could be making a nudge at innocence when he writes about pretty lambs, and the purest gold. To
further the poem being a lyrical text, there are examples of enjambment that creates even more of a
flow to each line. 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.
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