The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

by Christopher Marlowe

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Discussion Topic

Shepherd's Proposal and Nymph's Response in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"

Summary:

In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," the shepherd invites his beloved to join him in an idyllic pastoral life, promising a romantic setting filled with natural beauty and luxurious gifts. He envisions a carefree existence surrounded by nature's pleasures. However, Sir Walter Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" offers a skeptical response, highlighting the transient nature of both love and material promises. The nymph ultimately rejects the shepherd's proposal, emphasizing the impermanence of youth and beauty.

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In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," what does the shepherd request and promise in the first stanza?

In the first stanza, the shepherd asks his beloved to come and live with him. If she does, he promises to make living with him worthwhile. He tells her that they will sit on rocks to watch shepherds feed their flocks and that they will sit by rivers to listen to birds making beautiful music.

He also promises that he will make her beds of roses and a "thousand fragrant posies," a cap of flowers, and a kirtle embroidered with myrtle leaves. Next, he begins to paint a picture of how pretty she will look in the way he means to dress her. She will have a fine, wool gown; gold-buckled, lined shoes; and a "belt of straw and Ivy buds, / With Coral clasps and Amber studs." Furthermore, he promises that the young shepherd lads will sing and dance for her delight every summer morning. The shepherd lays out all these inducements to encourage his lady love to come and live with him.

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What is the shepherd proposing to the nymph in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?

The shepherd was proposing a passionate love affair to the nymph. He does not mention a long term relationship or marriage, though. The shepherd promises the nymph that he will shower her with all his attention, and says he will get others to watch over his sheep so that he can spend his time with her. He also promises that they will enjoy the most breathtaking scenery, which is a common theme in pastoral poetry, such as greenery and flowers.The shepherd says she will be dressed in the most luxurious clothes, that he will provide for her.

The words seem to imply that he wants her for a mistress, instead of a wife.

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What does the Shepherd offer to his love in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?

This poem fits into a group of poems classed as "carpe diem" poems - where the audience of the poem is urged to "seize the day" and make a decision to commit to a relationship now before time and death make such a decision impossible. Based on this scenario, the words that the shepherd uses in his appeal are designed to be soft and appealing. The speaker of the poem describes some of the simple, pastoral pleasures of the countryside, but without making any reference to the hardships of life in the countryside.

For example the shepherd promises his love that he will "make thee beds of roses, / And a thousand fragrant posies" and other such items as tokens of his love. The shepherd paints an attractive and beautiful image of the life that he and his love will have together:

And we will sit upon the rocks,

Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks

By shallow rivers, to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

The speaker concludes his appeal, having listed these delights, by saying:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me, and be my love.

Thus the speaker envisions a life of carefree pleasure and joy. He will make his love clothes from countryside materials, such as wool and flowers, and they will spend their time indulging in pastoral pursuits, such as watching shepherds dance and sing. A perfect unending summer world is created where the shepherd and his love can dwell for all eternity. Of course, critics are right in identifying the limitations of this view, and Sir Walter Raleigh´s famous poem, "The Nymph´s Reply to the Shepherd" is a more cynical response to these claims.

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What does the Shepherd offer to his love in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?

The sounds of the English language have been divided into two categories: harsh-sounding, and soothing.

The harsh-sounding consonants are: K,T,P,B.  These sounds are sometimes referred to as plosives, because in order to produce them one must emit a small "explosion" of air from one's mouth.

The "soothing" sounds are S (or soft C), SH, L, OO, M.  Linguists have pointed out that the phrase "cellar door" is extremely soothing to the ear.

Christopher Marlowe, in "The  Passionate Shepherd to his Love," clearly favors words that have a soothing sound.  Consider the first stanza:

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.

According to my count,  16  words contain soothing sounds: live, with, me, my, love, we, will, all, pleasures, hills, valleys, dales, fields, woods (2), mountain, yields.  By contrast, only 5  words contain harsh sounds: come, be, pleasures, prove, steepy.

In addition, consider the words "love" and "prove."   Since the poet rhymes theses words, it is probable that he pronounced both of them with a sound that we would probably represent with "oo"--something like the sound in "wood."

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What is the nymph's opinion in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?

It appears that you are referring to the nymph's reply to the amorous shepherd in Sir Walter Raleigh's The Nymph's Reply To The Shepherd.

Sir Walter Raleigh's poem answers Christopher Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd To His Love, line by line. In short, the nymph turns down the shepherd's invitation to live with him and to be his lover.

In the first stanza, the nymph is of the opinion that she may reconsider the shepherd's request if only there was 'truth in every shepherd's tongue.' In the second and third stanza, she equates the transience of love to the decay which eventually marks the passing of summer to winter.

When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;

In the fourth and fifth stanzas, the nymph is of the opinion that the shepherd's material gifts will fade with time, much like the loveliness of nature. She decides to give him an ultimatum, however, telling him that if

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.

In the nymph's opinion, the shepherd's suit isn't the least bit attractive to her.

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