1.If you were to connect the promises of the shepherd to God and You are His love, how are you going to react to His promises? Why?
2.Who do you think is the speaker (a voice that talks to you while reading the poemn) of the poem?
3. Suppose the speaker is a woman and the addressee is a male, do you think the message of the poem will
change? Why or why not?
4.What are the lessons that you can get from the poem?
2.Who do you think is the speaker (a voice that talks to you while reading the poemn) of the poem?
3. Suppose the speaker is a woman and the addressee is a male, do you think the message of the poem will
change? Why or why not?
4.What are the lessons that you can get from the poem?
Answers & Comments
Answer:
The Passionate Shepherd" is a poem written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe, likely in the early 1590s. It was one of the most popular and widely read poems of the English Renaissance; many poets, such as Sir Walter Ralegh, wrote responses praising, criticizing, and poking fun at it. In the poem, the speaker tries to seduce someone whom he refers to simply as his "love." In order to seduce this person, he describes a rural life full of intense sensual pleasure—but unpolluted by sin or sorrow. The resulting tableau is both beautiful and idealized: in his attempt to seduce his "love," the shepherd leaves out much of the complication and sorrow that mark real relationships.
Read the full text of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” Summary
Why don’t you come live with me and be my lover? We will enjoy all the pleasures that can be found in valleys, groves, hills, fields, woods, and steep mountains. And we’ll lounge on the rocks and watch the shepherds feed their sheep near shallow rivers—and we'll listen to birds sing sweet songs to the waterfalls of those rivers. And I will make you a bed made out of roses and thousands of sweet-smelling flowers. I will make you a cap of flowers, and a dress with myrtle leaves sewn through it. I will also make you a gown from the finest wool, which we will shear from our beautiful lambs. I will make slippers with linings to keep out the cold; their buckles will be made of pure gold. And I will make a belt made out of straw and ivy buds, its clasps made from coral and its studs made from amber. So if these pleasures sound good to you, why don’t you come live with me and be my lover? The shepherd boys will dance and sing for you every morning in May. If these pleasures convince you, then come live with me and be my lover.