The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is a poem written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe and published in 1599 (six years after the poet's death). In addition to being one of the most well-known love poems in the English language, it is considered one of the earliest examples of the pastoral style of British poetry in the late Renaissance period. It is composed in iambic tetrameter (four feet of unstressed/stressed syllables), with seven (sometimes six, depending on the version) stanzas each composed of two rhyming couplets. It is often used for scholastic purposes because the poem is a good example of regular meter and rhythm.

The poem was the subject of a well-known "reply" by Walter Raleigh, called "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd". The interplay between the two poems extends into the relationship that Marlowe had with Raleigh. Marlowe was young, his poetry romantic, rhythmic, and in the Passionate Shepherd he idealises the love object (the Nymph). Raleigh was an old courtier, and an accomplished poet himself. His attitude is more jaded, and in writing the Nymph's reply it is clear that he is rebuking Marlowe for being naive and juvenile in both his writing style and the Shepherd's thoughts about love. Subsequent responses to Marlowe have come from John Donne,^[1] C. Day Lewis, William Carlos Williams,^[2] Ogden Nash,^[3] W. D. Snodgrass,^[4] Douglas Crase and Greg Delanty,^[5] and Robert Herrick.

The poem was adapted for the lyrics of the 1930s-style swing song performed by Stacey Kent at the celebratory ball in the 1995 film of William Shakespeare's Richard III. It was also the third of the Liebeslieder Polkas for Mixed Chorus and Piano Five Hands, written by P.D.Q. Bach (released in 1980) and performed by the Swarthmore College Chorus. Other songs to draw lyrics from the poem include The Prayer Chain song Antarctica (1996) from the album of the same name, and The Real Tuesday Weld song Let It Come Down from their album The Last Werewolf (2011).

See also

• Arcadia

References

1. ^ http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/bait.php
2. ^ http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~sd/rndpoem.cgi?williams.raleigh.txt
3. ^ http://www.csi.edu/ip/englfl/faculty/cdraney/1_fall2004/engl175-c01_lit/etexts/love-under-repubs_nash.html
4. ^ http://www.versedaily.org/2006/invitation.shtml
5. ^ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307265455

This article related to a poem from the UK is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: 1590s poems English poems Poetry by Christopher Marlowe United Kingdom poem stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат? Malice Mizer Sylmar, Los Angeles, California Look at other dictionaries: The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd — was written by Sir Walter Raleigh in response to Christopher Marlowe s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love . It could be considered a criticism, or at least a negative reaction to the original poem, as the nymph is in fact rejecting the shepherd… …   Wikipedia The Massacre at Paris — is an Elizabethan play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe. It concerns the Saint Bartholomew s Day Massacre, which took place in Paris in 1572, and the part played by the Duc de Guise in those events. A foul sheet from Marlowe s writing …   Wikipedia Of Time and the City — 220px Directed by Terence Davies Produced by Solon Papadopoulos, Roy Boulter Written by Terence Davies …   Wikipedia The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia — The Countess of Pembroke s Arcadia, also known simply as the Arcadia or the Old Arcadia, is a long prose work by Sir Philip Sidney written towards the end of the sixteenth century, and later published in several versions. It is Sidney s most… …   Wikipedia The Winter's Tale — This article is about Shakespeare s play. For other uses, see Winter s Tale (disambiguation). Act II, scene 3: Antigonus swears his loyalty to Leontes, in an attempt to save Leontes young daughter s life. From a painting by John Opie… …   Wikipedia The American President — Infobox Film name = The American President caption = Promotional movie poster for The American President . imdb id = 0112346 producer = Barbara Maltby Charles Newirth Rob Reiner Jeffrey Stott director = Rob Reiner writer = Aaron Sorkin starring …   Wikipedia The Clash — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Clash. The Clash The Clash en liv …   Wikipédia en Français List of The Dresden Files characters — The Dresden Files series features a diverse cast of complicated characters. Contents 1 Main characters 1.1 Harry Dresden 1.2 Karrin Murphy 1.3 Bob …   Wikipedia List of works published posthumously — The following is a list of works that were published, performed or distributed posthumously (after the parties involved in its creation died). Contents 1 Drama 2 Films 2.1 Films whose director died before the release …   Wikipedia Doctor Faustus (play) — The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus Title page to a 1620 printing of Doctor Faustus showing Faustus conjuring Mephistophilis. Written by Christopher Marlowe …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”