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đề cương tự soạn văn học anh
THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE
''The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'' is a pastoral poem written by
Christopher Marlowe. It was published in 1599. 1. Summary
''The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'' centers around a narrator who is trying to
and convince her to come spend her life with him. This poem is woo his love
a pastoral poem, which means it is a poem about emotions and is set in nature.
Pastoral poems usually romanticize idyllic rural settings and landscapes. In
this particular pastoral poem, the narrator shares with his love all he and the
land can give to her if she will just promise to be his.
1.1 Summary: Stanzas 1-2
In the first stanza, the narrator sets up his proposition with ''Come live with me
and be my love'' and then goes on to tell her what that love will bring her. He
tells her that they will gain all the pleasures that the land and natural landscape have to offer.
The second stanza speaks of a simple life filled with leisure. They will sit
upon rocks and watch what shepherds feed their flocks. There will be waterfalls and birds singing.
In these stanzas, nature and those involved in it are the backdrops to their serenity.
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" Summary: Stanzas 3-4
The third stanza is all about flowers. The narrator pledges to make his love a
bed of roses and fragrant posies. He tells her that he would make her a cap
of flowers and a kirtle embroidered with myrtle. A kirtle is a piece of
clothing frequently worn over a petticoat.
In the fourth stanza, he tells his love what they will wear, saying it will all be
the finest. They will pull wool from their pretty lambs, and he will make her about:blank 1/17 01:17 7/8/24
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''a gown made of the finest wool''. Their slippers will be lined so they will not
get cold. They will use the purest gold for their buckles.
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" Summary: Stanzas 5-6
The fifth stanza continues on with clothing, and the narrator tells his love that
their belts will be made of straw and ivy buds ''With Coral clasps and Amber studs.''
After describing all he can give her, he implores her that if these things will
move her, she should come and be his love.
The poem ends with the sixth stanza. He tells her that the swains (young
lovers) will dance and sing each morning in May just for her delight. Again, he
ends the stanza imploring her that if this all should bring her delight and
pleasure, then she should ''live with me, and be my love.'' 2. Analysis Pastoral Poetry
As mentioned above, this is a pastoral poem. Pastoral poetry deals with
pastures, the countryside, nature, and shepherds. In this instance, the poem is
used to woo a love. The narrator uses idealized descriptions of the countryside
and shows how he would put them to the use of his love to make her life
beautiful. The narrator and his love will watch all of this playing out in front of
them, and they themselves will take the wool from their own sheep in order
make their life beautiful and ideal. As in many pastoral poems, the reality of
the natural world is at great odds with the reality depicted in the poem. In
reality, life as a shepherd was hard as they had to deal with harsh
circumstances and weather. Nature was not out to provide easily for
shepherds as this poem would suggest. A shepherd's life was not a simple one
or an easy one, but the narrator presents it as so, nevertheless. 3. Symbolism about:blank 2/17 01:17 7/8/24
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Flowers are strong symbols in this poem. Roses are often used to symbolize
love, sensuality, and passion, while myrtle represents good luck in marriage.
The posies he mentions have a twofold meaning: the flower and poetry. He
plans to make her beds of both. 4. Mood
The mood in the poem is one of innocence and beauty. The idyllic settings
described are used moreso to set a tone than to present reality since all the
darkness and hardship of a shepherd's life are ignored. The flowers
discussed remind a reader of spring, of a new beginning. He promises her
freshness in a world forever in its youth. The realities of providing for
themselves are never mentioned. There is no work and no discussion of
providing for themselves. The portrayal of love is one in which the world
works for them rather than them having to manipulate the world in order to
meet their needs. Hope reigns supreme. 5. Literary Devices
- The following literary devices are employed in this poem.
Hyperbole: exaggerations for emphasis. Examples of hyperbole are in the
overblown descriptions of the idyllic setting. Specific instances are the
''thousand fragrant posies'' he will use to make her bed of roses, as well as the
belts of finest gold that surely a shepherd could not come by.
Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds. Examples of alliteration are
''Coral clasps'' and ''pleasures prove.''
Metaphor: the drawing of a comparison without using the words ''like'' or ''as''.
In the poem, Marlowe compares the birds singing to madrigals.
Repetition: repeating words and phrases. The last couplets of the final two
stanzas contain very close repetition: In Stanza Five: about:blank 3/17 01:17 7/8/24
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''And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.'' In Stanza Six:
''If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.''
6. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the mood of "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love?"
The mood in the poem is one of hopefulness and innocence. It is a poem filled
with the springing of youth in nature.
What kind of poem is "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love?"
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is a pastoral poem. Pastoral poetry
deals with the natural countryside, often focusing on shepherds and the beauty
of life lived in the natural world.
What is the symbolism of "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love?"
There are multiple symbols in the poem. Many of these involve the flowers:
roses, posies, and myrtle. The natural scenes in the poem symbolize youth and spring.
What does the passionate shepherd offer his love?
The passionate shepherd offers much to his love. Among other things, he offers
her a bed of roses and posies, gowns made of the finest wool, buckles of
gold, and clasps of coral and amber studs.
What is the central idea of "The Passionate Shepherd?"
The central idea of the poem is that of idealized love. The narrator promises
that if the woman will come with him, their life will be one of bliss and
peacefulness in the countryside. about:blank 4/17 01:17 7/8/24
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What literary devices are used in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love?"
Some of the literary devices used in the poem are alliteration, repetition, and
metaphors. Each of these is used to enhance the poem in multiple ways. about:blank 5/17 01:17 7/8/24
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THE NYMPH’S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD
Detailed Analysis of The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd Stanza One:
“If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move,
To live with thee, and be thy love. ”
These lines bring forward the pragmatic nature of the speaker. She believes that
only external manifestations are not enough to survive in this world.
If the utopian world described by the shepherd existed in real life, the nymph
probably would have accepted the proposal and go ahead with the shepherd.
The nymph’s rejection is about to present in the next lines can be presumed from these lines. Stanza Two
“Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When Rivers rage and Rocks grow cold, And Philomel becometh dumb,
The rest complains of cares to come. ”
These lines highlight that time fades away, no matter how hard you try to hold
onto it. The nymph embarks on time’s futility- everything has a beginning and is bounded by an end.
She mentions that the flocks go from the fields to an end, and the rivers show
their wrath, and rocks become clammy under the reigns of time.
Philomel is a nightingale. The nightingale loses her voice with growing time. about:blank 6/17 01:17 7/8/24
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All these changes show that nothing is permanent. However, although everyone
else is concerned by these changes, the naive shepherd is not worried. He is
occupied by thoughts of things that have no reality and are just fragments of his dream. Stanza Three:
“The flowers do fade, and wanton fields,
To wayward winter reckoning yields,
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall. ”
One should not live in the moment and think about the future. Sooner or later, everything fades away.
Every beautiful and prosperous thing eventually wither away in the dooms of
time. Blooming flowers lose their freshness, and wanton fields lose their crops.
The ruin brought by the winter after the flourishing spring is inevitable.
The “honey tongue” can be considered synonymous with the spring, which
brings lots of riches but is ultimately met with the bitter winter bringing “sorrow’s fall”. Stanza Four:
“Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten:
In folly ripe, in reason rotten. ”
The nymph points to the illusion of gifts. Gifts are nothing but materialistic
possession which lose their value in the coming times. They will cease to exist
and lose their meaning or value attached to them and depart at the end of time. about:blank 7/17 01:17 7/8/24
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They are simply temptations that hold meaning in the present time but lose that
glory eventually. They are “soon forgotten.” The lines bring forward the idea of
love being beyond earthy possessions. Stanza Five:
“Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds,
The Coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.”
The speaker’s thoughts are fixated on decay and perishment. The lines make us
interpret love from a real perspective than a sugar-coated approach of only
passion. The emphasis on Tempus fugit is relevant throughout the poem.
The unsubstantial insignificance fades away and what is left is to face the
realities of life, which are harsh.
The beauty of nature and its extravagance filled with ivy buds and coral clasps
perish just like the feeling of love. The speaker’s tone is filled with mockery,
where she derides the transient nature of all the things that exist.
She speaks with a determination that these short sources of recreation are not
enough to garner her attention or love. She is in search of something more long-lasting and timeless.
These greedy pleasures have no place in her heart, and she is governed with
rational thoughts than getting carried away by petty things. Stanza Six:
“But could 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.” about:blank 8/17 01:17 7/8/24
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The use of the word “But” at the beginning of this stanza changes the poem’s
tone from pessimistic to optimistic. There is still a ray of hope for the love between the two to bloom.
The nymph mentions that if love remains young and the passion never dies,
their love will blossom. The mortality of the shepherd can never make their love eternal.
However, it helps to demonstrate that even though all likelihoods seem against
the start of their love, there can still be a flash of belief left in mind. This last
bit of hope helps to obliterate the other morbid thoughts of end and death
characterized in the earlier stanzas. about:blank 9/17 01:17 7/8/24
đề cương tự soạn văn học anh SONET 18 + SONET 29 Summary: Sonnet 18
The speaker opens the poem with a question addressed to the beloved: “Shall I
compare thee to a summer’s day?” The next eleven lines are devoted to such a
comparison. In line 2, the speaker stipulates what mainly differentiates the
young man from the summer’s day: he is “more lovely and more temperate.”
Summer’s days tend toward extremes: they are shaken by “rough winds”; in
them, the sun (“the eye of heaven”) often shines “too hot,” or too dim. And
summer is fleeting: its date is too short, and it leads to the withering of autumn,
as “every fair from fair sometime declines.” The final quatrain of the sonnet
tells how the beloved differs from the summer in that respect: his beauty will
last forever (“Thy eternal summer shall not fade...”) and never die. In the
couplet, the speaker explains how the beloved’s beauty will accomplish this
feat, and not perish because it is preserved in the poem, which will last forever;
it will live “as long as men can breathe or eyes can see.”
Sonnet 18 Line-by-Line Analysis
"Sonnet 18" is devoted to praising a friend or lover, traditionally known as the
"fair youth." The sonnet itself serves as a guarantee that this person's beauty
will be sustained. Even death will be silenced because the lines of the poem
will be read by future generations, when speaker/poet and lover are no more,
keeping their fair image alive through the power of verse. Line 1
The opening line is almost a tease, reflecting the speaker's uncertainty as he
attempts to compare his lover to a summer's day. The rhetorical question is
posed for both speaker and reader, and even the metrical stance of this first line
is open to conjecture. Is it pure iambic pentameter? This comparison will not be straightforward. about:blank 10/17 01:17 7/8/24
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This image of the perfect English summer's day is then surpassed as the second
line reveals that the lover is more lovely and more temperate. Lovely is still
quite commonly used in England and carries the same meaning then as it does
now (attractive, nice, beautiful), while temperate, in Shakespeare's time, meant
gentle-natured, restrained, moderate and composed. Line 2
The second line refers directly to the lover with the use of the second-person
pronoun Thou, which is now archaic. Lines 3–8
As the sonnet progresses, lines three through eight concentrate on the ups and
downs of the weather and are distanced, taken along on a steady iambic rhythm
(except for line five as discussed later).
Summertime in England is a hit-and-miss affair weather-wise. Winds blow,
rainclouds gather and before you know where you are, summer has come and
gone in a week. The season seems all too short—that's as true today as it was in
Shakespeare's time—and people tend to moan when it's too hot and grumble
when it's overcast. The speaker is suggesting that for most people, summer will
pass all too quickly, and they will grow old, as is natural, their beauty fading
with the passing of the season. Lines 9–12
Lines nine through twelve turn the argument for aging on its head. The speaker
states with a renewed assurance that "thy eternal summer shall not fade" and
that his lover shall stay fair and even cheat death and time by becoming eternal. Lines 13 and 14
Lines 13 and 14 reinforce the idea that the speaker's (poet's) poem will
guarantee that the lover remains young, the written word becoming their breath
and vital energy and ensuring their life continues. about:blank 11/17 01:17 7/8/24
đề cương tự soạn văn học anh Literary Devices
Between repetition, assonance, alliteration and internal and end rhyme, readers
of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" are certainly treated to a range of
devices that create texture, music, and interest. Assonance and Repetition
Note the language of these lines: rough, shake, too short, Sometimes, too hot,
often, dimmed, declines, chance, changing, untrimmed. There are interesting
combinations within each line that add to the texture and soundscape:
Rough/buds, shake/May, hot/heaven, eye/shines, often/gold/complexion, fair
from fair, sometimes/declines, chance/nature/changing, nature/course. Metaphor
Life is not an easy passage through time for most (if not all) people. Random
events can radically alter who we are, and we are all subject to time's effects. In
the meantime, the vagaries of the English summer weather are called up again
and again as the speaker attempts to put everything into perspective. Finally,
the lover's beauty, metaphorically an eternal summer, will be preserved forever in the poet's immortal lines. Caesura
And those final two lines, 13 and 14, are harmony itself. Following 12 lines
without any punctuated caesura (a pause or break in the delivery of the line),
line 13 has a 6/4 caesura, and the last line a 4/6. The humble comma sorts out
the syntax, leaving everything in balance and giving life. Perhaps only
someone of genius could claim to have such literary powers, strong enough to
preserve the beauty of a lover beyond even death. Language and Tone in Sonnet 18
Note the use of the verb shall and the different tones it brings to different lines.
In the first line, it refers to the uncertainty the speaker feels. In line nine, there about:blank 12/17 01:17 7/8/24
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is a sense of some kind of definite promise, while line eleven conveys the idea
of a command for death to remain silent.
The word beauty does not appear in this sonnet. Both summer and fair are used
instead. Thou, thee and thy are used throughout and refer directly to the lover
—the fair youth. The words and, nor and so long serve to repeat and reinforce the poem's ideas.
Rhyme Scheme And Metre of Sonnet 18
It's important to be aware that not every line of every one of Shakespeare's
sonnets is written in pure iambic pentameter as is assumed by many a supposed
authority. There may be metrical variations, but the form of "Sonnet 18" is that
of a classic English or Shakespearean sonnet—three quatrains (four-line
stanzas) rounded off with a rhyming couplet (the final two lines), adding up to 14 lines in total. Rhyme Scheme
The sonnet has the regular rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. All of the
end-of-line rhymes are full with the exception of temperate/date. Iambic Pentameter
"Sonnet 18" is written in traditional iambic pentameter, but it has to be
remembered that this is the overall dominant metre (meter in the USA). Certain
lines contain trochees, spondees and possibly anapaests.
While some lines are pure iambic, following the pattern of daDUM daDUM
daDUM daDUM daDUM (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable), others are not. Why is this an important issue? Well, the metre helps
dictate the rhythm of a line and also how it should be read. Take the first line for example: about:blank 13/17 01:17 7/8/24
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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
There's no doubting that this is a question, so the stress would normally fall on
the first word, Shall. Say it quietly to yourself, and you'll find the natural thing
to do is place a little more emphasis on that opening word because it is a
question being asked. If the emphasis was on the second word, I, the sense
would be lost. So the first foot is no longer an iamb but a trochee—an inverted iamb. Let's take a look:
Shall I / compare / thee to / a sum / mer's day?
The line now comprises one trochee followed by four iambs. But there is also
an alternative analysis of this first line that focuses on the mild caesura (pause
after thee) and scans an amphibrach and an anapaest in a tetrameter line. Take another look:
Shall I / compare thee / to a sum / mer's day?
Here we have an interesting mix; the stress is still on the opening word in the
first foot. The second foot now comprises three syllables—non-stressed,
stressed and non-stressed—making it an amphibrach. The third foot is an
anapaest, and the fourth a lonely iamb. There are four feet, so the line is in tetrameter. about:blank 14/17 01:17 7/8/24
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Both scans are valid because of the flexible way in which English can be read
and certain words only partially stressed. When I read this opening line, the
second version seems more natural because of that faint pause after the word
thee. I cannot read the opening line while sticking to the daDUM daDUM of
the iambic pentameter beat. It just doesn't ring true. Try it and find out for yourself.
Lines That Are Not in Iambic Pentameter
Again, in line three, the iambic pentameter rhythm is altered by the use of a
spondee (two stressed single-syllable words at the start):
Rough winds / do shake / the dar / ling buds / of May,
This places emphasis on the meaning and gives extra weight to the rough weather.
Again, in line five, an inversion occurs, with the opening trochee replacing the iamb:
Sometimes / too hot / the eye / of hea / ven shines,
The stress is on the first syllable, after which the iambic pattern continues to
the end. Note the metaphor (eye of heaven) for the sun and the inversion of the
line grammatically. Ordinarily, too hot would be at the end of the line. This is
called anastrophe, the change of order in a sentence. about:blank 15/17 01:17 7/8/24
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Note the spondee in line 11, this time in the middle of the line. It also opens with a trochee:
Nor shall / death brag / thou wand / 'rest in / his shade,
Here, the emphasis is on death brag, the double stress reinforcing the initial
trochee to make quite a powerful negation. about:blank 16/17 01:17 7/8/24
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