1. Sixteenth-Century English Poetry
Assist. Lect. Nadhim Fadhil Kadhim (M.A)

2. "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe
Assist. Lect. Nadhim Fadhil Kadhim (M.A)

3. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
Marlowe was a poet and playwright with brilliant intellectuality. He wrote many distinctive works that show universal themes, such as Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta, and others. He introduced blank verse to English tradition, which was later further developed and spread by Shakespeare. The major concern in his works is human aspiration in life.
Key ideas about Marlowe’s "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
• This poem is an example of pastoral poetry, which highlights the beauty of natural world and the serenity of rural life.
• This poem celebrates an ideal love, pastoral love, between a shepherd and a shepherdess. The setting of this poem is the rural life in which these two live.
• It opens with an invitation by the poet to his mistress to come and to live with him in countryside.
• The speaker makes many promises to his mistress if she comes to him. From the very beginning, he asserts to his mistress that they will experience an endless pleasure, the pleasure that the hills, valleys, fields and mountains offer. He promises to make the woman a bed of roses, a cap of flowers, a kirtle of leaves of myrtle, a gown of the finest wool of sheep, etc.
• The tone in this poem is very optimistic emphasizing the ideal life and love. Everything is just perfect leaving no space for sadness or pain that man may experience in life.
• This point of view will face its counterpart in Sir Walter Ralegh's
Sixteenth-Century English Poetry
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