Women’s Apparel

Marlowe’s shepherd provides detailed descriptions of how he would dress his love if she agreed to be his mistress. While he envisions her in a cap of flowers, a kirtle embroidered with myrtle, a gown of the finest wool, and slippers with gold buckles, the reality of dressing an Elizabethan woman was far more complex. Women in sixteenth-century England wore a variety of styles, much like women in the twenty-first century. A woman’s clothing choices depended on her social status, age, location, the weather, planned activities, and personal preferences.

During the Elizabethan era, women typically wore multiple layers of clothing. The first layer was a simple shift, functioning as an undergarment. Women also wore socks, though the shepherd does not intend to dress his beloved in them. If an Elizabethan woman could afford it, she might wear silk stockings instead of wool ones. These socks would extend just above her knees. Additionally, the shepherd’s beloved would require a corset, as the fashion of the time favored a flat bodice. The corset, worn over the shift, was designed to flatten and support the breasts.

For formal occasions, an Elizabethan woman wore a hoop skirt known as a farthingale. Given the shepherd’s outdoor plans, the woman would also need a wool petticoat beneath her farthingale to stay warm. To achieve a more pronounced silhouette at the hips, she could wear extra padding called a bumroll. Finally, the shepherd’s beloved could don the kirtle he offers. A kirtle, the outermost garment, was a sleeveless bodice with eyelets for lacing up the front and often had an attached skirt. It was worn over a shirt, blouse, or dress and was the most ornate part of her attire. The shepherd’s intention to embellish the kirtle aligns with Elizabethan customs, as kirtles were typically decorated.

The final layer for an Elizabethan woman would be a gown worn over all the other garments. She might also add ruffs to her neck and wrists, wear jewelry, and apply makeup. Many Elizabethan women wore elaborate wigs, requiring additional time for styling and placement, often adorned with decorative netting. If it rained, as it frequently did in May, the shepherd’s love might also wear a cloak for protection.

The shepherd seems unaware that an average Elizabethan woman would need assistance to don this intricate attire daily. The time required for dressing and undressing might dampen the shepherd’s ardor.

Marlowe was a university-educated dramatist who might have rivaled William Shakespeare had he lived longer. His plays probed the tangled passions of heroism, ambition, and power. He led an active theatrical life and frequented taverns: Indeed, he met his death at the age of twenty-nine in a tavern brawl. Yet he chose to write this poem in a shepherd’s voice, using a pastoral convention that was frequently employed by Elizabethan poets. The pastoral tradition of courtly love poetry idealized the beloved and ennobled the lovers, using idyllic country settings and featuring shepherds as models of natural, unspoiled virtue.

The poem’s images are all drawn from the kind springtime nature of the pastoral tradition and from music. This imagery creates a gentle fantasy of eternal spring. The poem appeals to almost all the senses—sight, sound, smell, and touch—as the speaker tells his love that they will watch “shepherds feed their flocks” and listen to birds singing madrigals (polyphonic melodies). He promises to make beds of roses, and clothing of flowers and wool for his beloved. Images of “shallow rivers,” “melodious birds,” “roses,” “pretty lambs,” and “ivy buds” evoke a nature that is pure, simple, blooming, and kind to innocent creatures.

To complement the pastoral imagery, the poem blends alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, and other sound patterns to create a songlike lyric. The labial l sound is repeated in words such as “live,” “love,” “all,” “hills,” “shallow,” “flocks,” “falls,” and “myrtle.” The sibilant s recurs in “Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,” in “shallow rivers,” “roses,” “sing,” and “swains.” The m sound appears in “mountain,” “melodious,” “madrigals,” “myrtle,” “lambs,” and “amber.” This combination of sounds creates a soft, harmonious, gentle tone.

The poem is written in regular four-line stanzas with rhyming couplets. Most of the rhyming words are words of one syllable, and most of the lines are end-stopped, thus emphasizing the rhyming words and the rhythm of the poem. The rhymes include such appealing words as “love” (repeated three times), “roses,” “flocks,” “fields,” “sing,” and “morning.” There are frequent internal rhymes and partial rhymes in words such as lambs/amber, may/swains, seeing/feed, and finest/lined. The meter is iambic tetrameter with little variation. All these factors—short, regular lines, repeated simple rhymes, frequent internal rhymes and partial rhymes, and alliterative patterns—turn the poem into a song, with a melodious appeal that echoes the music of nature that it describes; the poem has been set to music by several different composers.

Argument

In any piece of literature, the argument represents the author's main idea. In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," the shepherd's argument aims to persuade the unseen woman to become his mistress. He presents several persuasive points, but the core argument is that they will enjoy boundless pleasures together.

Couplets and Rhyme

Couplets consist of two successive lines of poetry sharing the same end-rhyme. Traditionally, a couplet was a two-line stanza conveying a complete thought, but the form has evolved over time. It is no longer confined to iambic pentameter, and the lines do not need to have identical patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," many lines are eight syllables long, but several deviate from this pattern, indicating Marlowe's departure from traditional poetic structures. He also strays from other conventions, as discussed in the pastoral poetry section below.

In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," Marlowe employs a straightforward rhyme scheme of couplets. Each pair features a unique rhyme, except for lines 19 and 20 and lines 23 and 24, which echo the rhyme of the opening lines. One challenge of using couplets is that the continuous alternating rhyme can become monotonous for the listener, especially in a longer poem.

Imagery

Imagery refers to the "mental pictures" that the text evokes. The relationships between these images can convey significant meanings in a poem. Through imagery, poets use language and literary devices like metaphor, allusion, and alliteration to create depth and texture. For example, the line "I will make thee beds of rose" conjures a romantic image that contrasts with the reality of thorny roses. Because the image is so evocative and roses are commonly associated with love, readers often overlook the impracticality of a bed made of thorns. Effective imagery in poetry allows readers to immerse themselves in the poem and experience it with all their senses.

Pastoral Poetry

The Greek poet Theocritus pioneered the pastoral poem by depicting the life of a Sicilian shepherd. He painted a serene and harmonious picture of shepherds living in an idealized natural setting, characterized by contentment and friendly competition. For these shepherds, love was a romantic yearning, devoid of any sexual connotations. Theocritus' work influenced the Roman poet Virgil, who had a significant impact on early English Renaissance poets. Virgil introduced darker elements, such as the grief felt by a shepherd at the loss of another. He also incorporated references to contemporary issues and highlighted the stark contrast between the peaceful countryside and the perils of urban life.

Marlowe likely studied pastoral poets during his classical education at Cambridge, though he was not the first English poet to embrace the pastoral tradition. Edmund Spenser began the Elizabethan trend in 1579 with The Shepheardes Calender, soon followed by Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Greene, who produced their own pastoral works. Marlowe, however, made the pastoral genre uniquely his own by infusing it with sexuality and amplifying its imagery. Prior to Marlowe, shepherds in pastoral poetry engaged in romantic but innocent love affairs, and the genre was marked by its artificial language, with shepherds speaking in the refined manner of aristocrats. Marlowe broke these conventions by incorporating sexuality, thereby creating a new pastoral tradition. The tone of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” implies a parody of the pastoral tradition. Marlowe’s shepherd invites the woman to envision an idealized life that is not only unattainable but also ludicrous in many respects. By exaggerating and crafting these absurd images, Marlowe intimates that the pastoral tradition should not be taken too seriously.

1500s: In 1582, Catholic countries adopt the Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian calendar, which had a ten-day discrepancy. The new calendar offers a more accurate way to manage days, weeks, months, and years, as it closely approximates the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the sun.

Today: Despite many countries still observing various religious and cultural calendars, the Gregorian calendar has become the global standard for marking the seasons.

1500s: In 1587, King Phillip II of Spain attempts to invade England following the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. The conflict stems from the hostility between Catholic Spain and Protestant England. However, his "Invincible Armada," the fleet sent to attack England, is defeated by the English in 1588, with more than half of the ships lost to battle or storms.

Today: While religious differences still incite conflict in some areas, Catholics and Protestants generally coexist peacefully throughout Europe, with the exception of occasional strife in Ireland.

1500s: The Book of Common Prayer becomes central to uniform Protestant services in England in 1549. Queen Mary I restores Catholicism in 1555, leading to the persecution of Protestants, including over 300 burnings at the stake. After her death in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I reestablishes Protestantism and officially ends religious persecution, though the Anglican Church is not formally established until 1563.

Today: Some restrictions against Roman Catholics persist in England, such as the prohibition against a Catholic becoming the monarch.

1500s: In 1552, church parishes are mandated to register the poor, creating official records and introducing a compulsory poor tax to make local communities responsible for their welfare.

Today: In 1997, the Labour Party government commissions a study on child poverty in Great Britain. The six-year study, completed in 2003, reveals that 45 percent of British children live in poverty and that government intervention has worsened the situation. Although the government acknowledges the issue, a solution has yet to be determined.

1500s: In 1580, the English suppress a Spanish-backed Irish rebellion by starving the rebels into submission.

Today: Starving opponents is now seen as barbaric. During the late 1990s, the British government responds to IRA attacks with strict anti-terrorism laws. These measures, along with arrests of IRA leaders and recent elections in Ireland, have helped to quell the rebellion.

1500s: In addition to Marlowe, other prominent poets of this era include Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and John Donne. These writers will become key figures in England's golden age of literary achievement under Queen Elizabeth I's rule.

Today: Over 400 years after Marlowe's passing, his poetry, along with that of other Elizabethan poets, remains essential in the study of British literature. Notable British poets of the twentieth century include W. H. Auden, William Butler Yeats, A. E. Housman, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, and Seamus Heaney.

The 1995 film Richard III, directed by Richard Loncraine and featuring Ian McKellen and Annette Bening, includes a recitation of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Early in the film, Marlowe’s poem is performed to music in a 1930s big-band style. Given that many early Elizabethan lyrical poems were intended to be sung, this musical rendition aligns with the poem's original purpose. The movie is available on VHS and DVD.

SOURCES

Bell, Ilona, "Elizabethan Poetics of Courtship," in Elizabethan Women and the Poetry of Courtship, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 15–32.

Donne, John, "The Bait," in John Donne’s Poetry: Authoritative Texts, Criticism, edited by A. L. Clements, Norton Critical ed., Norton, 1966, pp. 22–27.

Ferguson, Mary Anne, "Introduction to the First Edition," in Images of Women in Literature, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1977, p. 13.

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 2nd ed., Vol. 2, Harvard University Press, 1984, pp. 281–89.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, "Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd," in Selected Writings, edited by Gerald Hammond, Fyfield Books, 1984, pp. 31–32.

Shakespeare, William, Richard III, Arden Third Series ed., edited by Antony Hammond, Routledge, 1994.

Sidney, Sir Philip, The Defense of Poesy, Ginn, 1898, pp. 49–52.

Woolf, Virginia, "A Room of One’s Own," in A Room of One’s Own and Other Essays, Folio Society, 2000, pp. 51–56.

FURTHER READING

Cheney, Patrick, The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

This book features essays from sixteen scholars discussing Marlowe’s life, his works, and his impact on subsequent writers.

Clay, Christopher, Rural Society: Landowners, Peasants, and Labourers, 1500–1750, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

This work explores the social and economic history of rural England between 1500 and 1750, covering topics such as wages, estate management, and the lives of laborers.

Cole, Douglas, Christopher Marlowe and the Renaissance of Tragedy, Praeger, 1995.

Cole analyzes the major literary traditions of Marlowe’s time and how Marlowe adapted them to suit his own themes.

Kuriyama, Constance Brown, Christopher Marlowe: A Renaissance Life, Cornell University Press, 2002.

This biography places Marlowe in his cultural context, examining not only his life but also the English education system, politics, and society of his era.

O’Hara, Diana, Courtship and Constraint: Rethinking the Making of Marriage in Tudor England, Manchester University Press, 2002.

This study delves into sixteenth-century English courtship, using church records, legal documents, and wills to explore social customs and the economics of courtship.

Picard, Liza, Elizabeth’s London: Everyday Life in Elizabethan London, St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

This book paints a vivid picture of life in Elizabethan London, describing the city's architecture, gardens, shops, palaces, theaters, and streets. It also covers domestic life, the water supply, and prevalent diseases.

Riggs, David, The World of Christopher Marlowe, Henry Holt, 2005.

Described by the publisher as a "definitive biography," Riggs examines Marlowe’s life, the era he lived in, and the mystery surrounding his death.

Stretton, Tim, et al., eds., Women Waging Law in Elizabethan England, Cambridge University Press, 1998.

This text explores the involvement of women in legal proceedings during Elizabethan England. It delves into the history of women's legal rights, offering insights into how marriage or widowhood influenced these rights.