The poem describes a shepherd urging his love to come live with him. He promises they will experience pleasures in the countryside, such as watching shepherds by rivers and listening to birds singing. The shepherd also offers his love gifts of clothing and decorations made from natural materials like roses, flowers, wool, and ivy. He hopes these promises will convince her to accept his invitation to come live with him and be his love.

1. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
By … Christopher Marlowe

2. Background Information of the poet …
- Born : 26 February 1564 Canterbury, England
- Died : 30 May 1593 (aged 29 ) Deptford , England . He was stabbed in a
barroom fight by a drunken man.
- Occupation: A great Dramatist, playwright, poet and translator of the
Elizabethan era.
- Literary movement : English Renaissance theatre
- Notable work(s)
Plays: The Jew of Malta, Edward the Second, The Tragical History of Doctor
Faustus .
Poetry : The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ,Hero and Leander

3. Supplement …
Marlowe greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was
born in the same year as Marlow . Many scholars believe
that if Christopher Marlowe had lived longer, he might
have become a greater dramatist than William
Shakespeare.
Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that
encourage Shakespeare to try it . Blank verse is any verse
comprised of unrhymed lines all in the same meter,
usually iambic pentameter .
Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English,
again paving the way for Shakespeare.

4. “ The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ”
by … Christopher Marlowe
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.
And we will sit upon rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle:

5. A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold:
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

6. Vocabulary
Grove (L 3) ~ a group of tree that are closed together
Steepy (L 4) ~ rise at a very sharp angle and is difficult to go
up
Madrigal (L 8) a song sung by several singers without any
musical instruments
Posy (L 10) ~a small bunch of flowers
Kirtle (L 11) ~ gown
Embroider (L 12) ~ is the activity of stitching designs onto
cloth
Gown (L 13) ~ is a dress, usually a long dress

7. Buckle (L16) ~ is a piece of metal attached to one end of the
belt
Ivy (L 17) ~ an evergreen plant that grows up walls or along
the ground
Coral (L 18) ~ a hard substance formed from the skeletons of
very small sea animals. It is often used to make jewelry
Amber (L 18) ~ is a hard yellowish-brown substance used for
making jeweler
Stud (L 18) ~ earring
Swain (L 20) ~ a young man who is in love

8. Type of Work and Year of Publication.
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a pastoral
lyric, a poetic form that is used to create an idealized vision of
rustic life within the context of personal emotion.
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love was published in
1599 (six years after the poet's death).

9. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
setting
Christopher Marlowe sets the poem in early spring in a
rural locale where shepherds tend their flocks.
That can clearly be seen in the images drown in the poem
“Valleys” “groves” “hills” “fields” “mountain” “rivers”
“flowers”.

10. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Rhyme, Form & Meter
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” has a fairly simple form that fits
its simple theme and language. It consists of six stanzas with four lines
each, for a total of 24 lines.
The predominant meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter. with eight
syllables (four iambic feet) per line .
Ex: ........1................2...............3...............4
..Come LIVE |..with ME..|..and BE |..my LOVE
The rhyme scheme is also simple : In each stanza, the first line rhymes
with the second, and the third rhymes with the fourth. {aabb ccdd eeff
gghh iiaa jjaa }

11. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
summary of the whole poem
It is a pastoral poem as said before which is generally centered on the love
of a shepherd to a certain maiden. The shepherd pledged to do the
impossible only to make the female accept his pleas. The poem displays
sexuality and imposes young love.
The shepherd promises and offers many things to encourage the maiden,
like romantic entertainment and clothing, as if the time will stand still.
The nature seems to be idyllic too, as if the world is too safe and nothing
can go wrong.

12. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Analysis
First stanza…
The shepherd opens with an invitation to his love to come
and live with him and they shall all the “pleasures prove".
This immediate reference to pleasure gives a sexual tone to
this poem , since He is not asking her to marry him but only
to live with him. Some critics says that this invitation is of
totally innocent, almost naive kind as the shepherd makes
gently and directly calls to his love.
The shepherd implies that the entire geography of the
countryside of England "Valleys, groves, hills and
fields/Woods or steepy mountains" will prove to contain
pleasure for the lovers.

13. Second stanza…
The second stanza suggests the perfect places were lovers
should enjoy there love as the poet remind . They will watch
shepherds feeding their flocks, or listening to waterfalls and
the songs of birds “Melodious birds sing madrigals”.
This second stanza, if taken by itself, exemplifies the
traditional pastoral theme of the restful shepherd watching
his flocks, enjoying in quiet repose the countryside and all it
offers. It is the idealization of the pastoral form, in which
nature is safe, filled with "shallow rivers" and "melodious
birds."

14. The third, fourth, and fifth stanzas…
These three stanzas are a kind of list of the "delights" that the
Shepherd will make for his lady. The list of the things he will
make for his lady includes : "beds of roses" "thousand fragrant
posies," "cap of flowers," …
The shepherd is like want to say: I will use roses to make beds
decorated with a thousand sweet-smelling posies for you to lie. I
will weave a flower cap, and make you kirtle fringed with myrtle
leaves. We pull out of the finest wool from our lambs to make a
pretty gown. And a pair of high-quality slippers will be made for
you, to keep you from being cold. On the slippers I will put
buckles, which was made of purest gold. Also, I will make you a
belt of straw and ivy buds with coral clasps and amber studs. If
these pleasure may touch your heart, come live with me and be
my love.

15. The last stanza…
The shepherd asks the lady again to accept his offer if she
accept his offer
finds that all the things he offers worth it . “The young
shepherd shall dance and sing in each May morning to delight
you, and if you may be touched by these delights, then live with
me and be my love”.

16. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Theme
Nature Idealization rather than realism : Marlowe paints a
picture of idyllic nature without any of the real dangers that
might be present. There are no responsibilities in this imaginary
life.
Themes of youth, innocence, love, and beauty.
Some critics says that the image drawn by the poet is given bad
tendency toward life. The poet is like saying “enjoy the moment
without worrying about the future”. The Unrealistic view of
things may consider one of the themes of this poem .

17. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Images, Figures of Speech, Literary Devices
The poem appeals to the senses of sight, sound, smell, and
touch.
"seeing the shepherds feed their flocks" --- sight
"melodious birds sing madrigals" --- sound
"a thousand fragrant poises, a cap of flowers"--- smell
"sit upon the rocks"--- touch
Images of "shallow rivers", "melodious birds", "roses", "pretty
lambs", and "ivy buds" evoke a nature that is pure and
blooming. Marlowe mixes images of objects made from
nature (beds of roses, a cap of flowers, a belt of straw with ivy
buds) with images of man-made objects (gold buckles, silver
dishes). His beloved thus will receive the best of both worlds.

18. Supplement…
Musical devices:
The poem combines alliteration (The shepherd's swains shall
dance and sing), rhythm, and rhyme to create a song-like
lyric.
the “ I " sound is repeated in the words "live", "love", "all", "hills",
"shallow", "flocks", "falls" and "myrtle"
the “ M " sound occurs in "mountain", "madrigals", "myrtle",
"lambs", and "amber"
the “ S " sound appears in the words "seeing", "shepherds",
"shallow", "roses", "sing", and "swains"
Tone
Passionate, optimistic .

19. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Speaker and Listener
The speaker is a passionate shepherd. He promises to his love a fanciful,
and somehow an unrealistic future. The shepherd does not rank high in
the society; he is probably not wealthy at all. However, he is a very poetic
person, he that imply possible proposal in the poetry. This statement is
seen from words such as bed, slipper, and kirtle. Those daily used subjects
in the family.
The listener in this poem is the shepherd's lover. There are no clues on her
personality or appearance.

20. Thanks for paying attention