The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe - Essay Example

Essay, English Topic: Research Paper for "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" Introduction The wise saying goes, ‘Love is like the bird with colorful wings that remains in the heart of the lover. It moves there with tantalizing speed and makes the lover a bard’. The connotation of the word ‘love’ in the poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is somewhat similar. To accomplish his love, the shepherd is willing to do anything and reels out promises galore. It is a countrified lyric, a form of poetry which is employed to create a fanciful image of countryside life in tandem with the personal emotions. Such poems have been the trend with the poet fraternity for seventeen centuries prior to Marlowe’s penning this poem. On a careful scrutiny of the submissions relating to love by the shepherd, it can be safely concluded that he is interested in a bout of physical pleasure with the nymph than to stand up for the cause of true love. In the first stanza, the shepherd extends a cordial and hearty invitation to his lady- love to accompany him by assuring, “and we will all the pleasures prove” (Marlowe, line 2.) The forthright mention of pleasure has an undercurrent of sexual tone. The question whether the call of love is gentle and direct without any hidden agenda will be examined in the latter part of this paper. He desires to introduce to his lady-love the magnificent topography of the rural area of England, dotted by “And valleys, groves, hills and fields, Woods or steepy mountains” (Marlowe, lines 3-4), which are capable of imparting pleasures of abundant varieties to the lovers. He desires to bring to the notice of his lover that nature is generous and her capacity for benevolence is measureless. To eulogize nature for the bounties she offers throughout the year in one form or the other is the common theme of the pastoral poetry. It has the dignity of its own and is distinctly different from the ordinary rustic verse. “When Raleigh responded to the "soft" pastoralism of Marlowe's "Passionate Shepherd to His Love," he presented the data of "hard" pastoral-the mutability and discomfort that the real cycle of seasons offers in place of ver adsiduum: "The flowers doe fade, and wanton fieldes / To wayward winter reckoning yeeldes" (40). Each critic sees the new horizons in the pastoral poetry and thus the interpretations vary. Subsequently, the poet discusses about the location of the love-play and draws clear-cut distinction between the rural and urban ambience. The love-birds will not visit an auditorium or take part in a feast, but would love to be together on rocks, under the greenwood trees, or along the bank of rivers to exchange their merry notes. The shepherd is aware of the freedom that he enjoys in his profession, though it may appear insignificant from the point of view of a city-bred critic. The perquisites of the rural surroundings offered by nature are indeed great. Some of them according to the shepherd are, watching other shepherds feed their flocks, listening to the melody of waterfalls and the birds singing, expressing their joy and mirth. These are the enticements offered to his lady-love by the shepherd and such auditory and visual pleasures are the hallmark of rural life. One sees the shepherd in a distinctly different mode of love and he is quite vocal in his expressions to win over his lady-love, as revealed in the 3rd, 4th and 5th stanzas. The reference is mostly to the stylish apparel, and other embellishments the shepherd is going to provide to her. The tone and attitude of the shepherd is like that of a dress designer and the fashion consultant of the metropolis. His offerings are rich and the language is aristocratic. The nomenclature given by the shepherd to them is “delights”. The reader is in genuine doubt now, whether he is the shepherd at all, or the feudal landowner, controlling authority of several such shepherds. The listing of the intended offerings to his lady-love is stunning and demands attention. “Bed of roses”, “thousand fragrant posies”, “cap of flowers”, “kirtle embroidered with leaves of myrtle”, "thousand fragrant posies," "gown made of the finest wool/Which from our pretty lambs we pull," "fair-lined slippers," "buckles of the purest gold," "belt of straw and ivy buds," "coral clasps," and "amber studs". An ordinary shepherd cannot imagine even in his dream offerings of this genre. Apart from the cost aspect, such vocabulary is beyond the intellectual level of a rustic shepherd. The clear picture of the identity of the shepherd emerges in the last stanza when the poet leaves the reader in no doubt that this man is the member of the gentry and not an ordinary shepherd roaming in the countryside with his flock of sheep. "The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May-morning." (Lines 21-22) The description of the countryside may be fascinating to the imagination of the lady-love for a while but on practical considerations the lady may not be willing to follow the shepherd on a permanent basis. The reader has to bear with the disappointment of the shepherd in the end with no communication from the side of the lady-love. We do not know whether her response is positive or negative. The theme The thinking process of the shepherd is romantic and idealistic, and on further examination, his simplicity seems to have a coat of artificiality and his real nature is filled with passion. It is evident from the convincing arguments that he makes to woo his lady-love. The speaker extends a direct invitation to her to live with him and share the pleasures that he is able to offer. The word ‘shepherd’ seems to be a camouflage for the love-affair he is interested in enjoying in a rural setting. It seems that appealing to the emotional world of his lady-love seems to be one of the tricks employed by him to win over her. He promises her lots of relaxation and pleasures. His vivid description about the beauty of nature is to impress her and he is confident that she will accept his offer. The shepherd is trying his best to emotionally blackmail her. But her level of intelligence is far above and she judges well the merits of the attractions of the promised secular considerations and she is convinced, all that the shepherd wants is physical relationship with her. She sees through the negative connotation in his promises. The offer is tempting but those things are not the ones about which she is crazy about. She is aware that in the first flush of enthusiasm for love one should not hasten, and know about the impact of the decisions being made today will have on the future. Does shepherd genuinely love the nymph? Christopher Marlowe rightly uses the word “passionate” in the title of the poem to describe the love of the shepherd to nymph. True love contains an element of silence and it goes on multiplying but passion diminishes with time. Upon close scrutiny, it appears that the shepherd’s emotions are spontaneous and powerful but that alone is not the hallmark of true love. Moreover, he is trying to buy the love of nymph by offering her numerous materialistic comforts. There is nothing about the reaction of the nymph and no response whatsoever from her side. The beauty of the pastoral life is nothing new to the nymph as vales, hills, forests and rivers are part of the life of nymphs. Nymphs do not reside in spacious bungalows in communities or flats in high-rise buildings. So, initially the shepherd makes the claim that he too loves the pastoral life (obviously hinting that he is willing to make this sacrifice to stay away from the comforts that are part of the urban life and at the same time, he wants to let her know about his enormous purchasing power. His intended offer of romance has the hidden agenda, and he does not seem to have the gentleman’s approach to love and dignity of a woman. The style in which he cajoles her with the listing of pleasures indicates that he is the past-master in wooing women for sexual aggrandizement and desires to take chance with the nymph. He desires to entice her by employing all possible methods. The beauty of the pastoral life has nothing to do with series of materialistic comforts the shepherd is inclined to offer to the nymph. The conclusion of this interaction is therefore simple and straightforward. The shepherd tries to win over the heart of nymph by all means, fair and fowl, and sensual pleasure is his objective. The next question is how such articles of luxury are accessible to a shepherd? With due respect to the profession of shepherds, what is being offered by him is beyond his limitations. A doubt arises, whether he is a shepherd at all! A shepherd cannot be expected to be a doctorate in literature and there is not even one phrase that can be attributed to the village slang and can give credit to the profession of shepherds and to the pastoral life as visualized by them. Moreover the beginnings of his love appeal, “Come live with me and by my love” (Line 1) indicates rather an authority, it smacks the power derived either of money or of position in the society. It is not a request but a command to the nymph. He seems to be utterly confident that his love-cravings will be accepted by the nymph. How can an ordinary shepherd be that bold? This is an important inconsistency in the poem. So the fructification of love between the shepherd and the nymph is an unattainable reality and the approach of the shepherd is not convincing viewed from any angle. The conclusion, therefore is, does the shepherd use the best possible devices of seduction to win over the nymph by offering her the impossibilities considering the budget and standard of life of the shepherd community. Some of his important offerings at the portals of love for the nymph are: “Gown made of wool . . . fair lined slippers for the cold, with buckets of the purest gold; a belt of straw and ivy buds, with coral clasps and amber studs” (Lines 13-18). This man cannot be a shepherd by profession. The meaning of the word shepherd The wise saying goes that ‘love is blind’. The shepherd is the leader/controller of sheep which love to be with the herd. Their nature is to follow the leader, they need to be told what to do and where to go, otherwise they will wander off the path and get lost. They are dumb, stupid, gullible, stampede easily and are vulnerable to mob psychology. They are totally dependent upon the mercy of the shepherd for every need. By constantly leading such animals, the shepherd is likely to imbibe some of their qualities. The shepherd lives among the group of sheep and let us assume that thoughts in his mind also arrive in groups. The shepherd in the poem is not capable of pursuing his love with a single-minded determination. He wanders from ideas to ideas to win over the love of the nymph and his thoughts in the form of sheep are running helter-skelter. With such a frame of mind he is inconsistent in his approach to love. In fine, this poem cannot be the creation of a shepherd. It must be from a refined gentleman, with reasonable educational standards, and his mind for the present has been engulfed in love and he is unable to think properly, mad with passion. The functioning of his mind is at the lowest level, like that of a shepherd, who does not require any special skills to control his herd of sheep. What joy will a shepherd get by watching other shepherds at work as articulated by the poet? Along with that he mentions other pastoral devices such as sitting by a river, watching the shepherds with their flocks and listening to the birds sing to the accompaniment of a waterfall; and then of rosy beds and flower-adorned garments and waterfall. The confusion and anxiety in the mind of the shepherd to win over the nymph at any cost, by appeals to her emotions about the beauty of pastoral life and at the same time offering her the maximum materialistic comforts towards which women are generally attracted to, is seen in this assertion. C Harold Hurley argues, “Written ca. 1588, circulated in manuscript for a decade, celebrated as one of the leading songs of the day, published anonymously and posthumously in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, frequently reprinted thereafter, and widely alluded to and imitated, Marlowe's poem recounts the rustic delights that an amorous shepherd offers his beloved shepherdess” (177-179).Assuming that the historical details mentioned in the above observation are correct, in the concluding part of the sentence of the poem mention is made about the pastoral pleasures that an enamored shepherd offers to his beloved shepherdess, does not hold any merit. The question that creates doubt is how the shepherd can be that polished in articulating his love? If that love is for the shepherdess and not to a nymph as argued by other researchers, is she not aware of the limitations and the reach of the shepherd? Is it possible for the shepherd to acquire such costly gifts? Assuming that shepherd’s love will be fructified, what will the shepherd do after marriage? What will the shepherdess do? Will they continue to tend sheep? All these issues make it quite clear that the shepherd is just the camouflage for some gentleman from the nobility in love. Certainly it is not love at first sight or that gentleman loves someone for the first-time. He is an experienced individual perfect in the art of wooing and he is the past master in the profession of love-making. R. S. Forsythe writes, “A more immediate classical source for "The Passionate Shepherd" is to be found in Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XIII, 5 which also gives a version of the legend of Polyphemus and Galatea. The Cyclopean lover here tells the nymph of his cave in the mountains; of his orchards; of his flocks; of the abundance of milk; of the choice pets his love shall have” (p.692-742).The contents of this poem in relation to the shepherd are believable taking into consideration the choice of words being made like, “cave”, “flocks”, “milk”, “pets”, etc. But the vocabulary of the poem by Marlowe is uniformly rich and aristocratic and is beyond the domain of the shepherd. There is one more problem in understanding the true import of the poem and there is an even bigger issue in understanding the poet. Good poetry emerges from the noble heart. If the heart is not noble, the poetry turns out to be a scheme, written with a purpose, may be even with an ulterior motive. The facts known about Marlowe’s life are not much in favor of his nobility. This is however, not to belittle the merit of the poem from the point of view of romantic literature. As per the records, “Christopher Marlow, so highly eminent as a dramatic writer, would probably have been over-looked in the department of miscellaneous poetry, but for his beautiful piece, rendered familiar by its being transferred into Walton’s “Angler”,--The Passionate Shepherd to his Love”. (Marlowe, n. p.) In essence, this is a poem where a lover is in conversation with another possible lover. It is the single track conversation, with no response from the receiving end. The composition of the poem is estimated to be near the beginning of Marlowe’s career, when he is not a big name in the theater world. The importance of the call, “Come live with me, and be my love". The shepherd commands first, and details his submissions to the lady-love later. The tone of the sentence is not a request, but not a rude expression either. It is from an individual whose morality is suspect; the question arises in the mind whether the shepherd has mala-fide intentions. The contents of poem contradict his true expectations in relation to the nymph as Marlowe is known for his bad temper and atheistic views. Sexuality with manipulative tendencies of an individual does not speak well, even if he is a poet. The one-sided conversation in the poem is like someone from the upper strata of the society speaks to the one from the lower strata. In the romantic poetry, the word ‘passion’ has lots of importance. Whether the title of the poem is given by Marlowe or someone later, is an undecided issue yet to be resolved by the researchers. In that era, the ‘shepherd’ could have been the word that appeals to the emotions of the readers. So the ‘passionate shepherd’ turns out to be a popular combination. In actual terms, the contents of the poem have no relevance to the shepherd or his community. Any nymph would be least attracted to the community of shepherds. The one-sided arguments continue without any counter-arguments or consent from the side of the loved one and the poem ends with a cliff-hanger. Line 2 of the poem contains another notorious word in the history of love-poetry, “pleasure”. This goes to prove the intentions of the shepherd, what he wants is pleasure and nothing else. The readers do not know what the antecedents of his move are, or what generates the bold assertions by the shepherd. Has he been in dialogue with the lady-love on the subject? Is the love-saga in the beginning stage? What are the predicaments of the nymph if at all she is thinking on similar lines? Rhyme, Form & Meter Patrick Cheney writes, “The words are pregnant with music. It is a fine example of regular meter and rhyme. The poem “is an Italianate pastoral song in its form, an "elaborate contrapuntal imitation" of several "voices" in its technique, a non-"ecclesiastical mode" in its telos, and a lyric of amatory character in its topic”.(523-555) Viewed from the content and the rhyme, this song is befitting to be sung in the rural settings and will be liked by the farmers and shepherds. One thinks that the nymph too should have suitably replied to the love-appeals of the shepherd to set the issue in the proper perspective. Conclusion: In the poem, the passionate shepherd is the speaker obsessed with love. The lady-love is supposed to be a nymph and the speaker extends a direct invitation to her for co-habitation in the countryside. Marlowe does not own the title of the poem. The speaker airs, rather authoritatively, some opinionated statements, the sole objectives of them being the fructification of his love and actively convinces the benefits of his association with her. The firmness with which the narrator says, “Come live with me” (Line 1) is the pointer that the lady-love is previously acquainted with the speaker. If not, it is sheer impoliteness to address a lady in such a style. In the present case the speaker appeals to the emotions of the lady-love, describes the beauty of the countryside and at the same time reveals to her his financial prowess and offers the choicest gallery of gifts. He seems to be in a hurry for the fructification of his love and is not inclined to give space to the lady-love to think about his proposal. This raises doubts about the genuineness of the narrator’s intentions whether his feelings of love are true or he is just the pleasure-seeker. The readers note that there is no response from his lady-love and her silence is intriguing as for the trustworthiness of the speaker. The speaker may be a shepherd, but the lady-love is certainly not the dumb, driven sheep! Marlowe willfully keeps the reactions of the nymph in abeyance and adjourns the ‘court of love’ amidst suspense! Works Cited Raleigh, Walter. The Poems of Sir Walter Raleigh. Ed. Agnes M. C. Latham. London: Constable, 1929. Cheney, Patrick. Career Rivalry and the Writing of Counter-Nationhood: Ovid, Spenser, and Philomela in Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love", ELH, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Fall, 1998), pp. 523-555. The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30030193. Forsythe, R.S. The Passionate Shepherd; And English Poetry. PMLA, Vol. 40, No. 3 (Sep., 1925), pp. 692-742; Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/457566. Hurley, C Harold. Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, 4.3.60-105. The Explicator 65. 4 (Summer 2007): 197-199. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216783873?accountid=14585 Marlowe, Christopher. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Chambers’ Cyclopedia, n.d. Read More