Dec 25, 2009

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love | Topics for Further Study

Marlowe’s poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a pastoral poem. Using the information you now have about pastoral poetry, write your own pastoral poem. As Marlowe did, invoke the traditional elements, such as the rural countryside and the shepherd, but try also to create a new tradition by including an element that will make the pastoral style uniquely your own.

Research the life of a shepherd in sixteenth-century England and compare it to the life of a shepherd in the twenty-first century. Which life would you prefer and why?

Both Sir Walter Raleigh and John...