Pastorals

Lyric PoetryTwo Types

Pastorals Sonnets

Pastorals

• Shepherds

• Rural life

• City vs. Country

Pastorals

• Idealized view of country life- not realistic

• Innocence/Serenityof a simple life

vs.Misery/Corruptionof a city/court life

Pastoral Topics

• Love and seduction

• Value of poetry

• Death and mourning

• Corruption of city/court

• Purity of country life

• Satire of politics

Types of Pastorals

• Conversation between:– Shepherd and

shepherdess he loves(his attempt to seduce her)

– 2 shepherds (“singing contest”)

• Lamentation• Praise• Complaints of lovesick

shepherd

Common Pastoral Themes

• Link between love & delights of youth/nature

• Relationship of love to time– Time stops for lovers– Time/change = love’s enemy

(youth age)

• Carpe diem(“seize the day”)

Christopher Marlowe

• 1564-1593• Playwright, poet• Scoundrel, ladies’

man, hothead• Knifed to death in a

bar fight– Unpaid bill?– Government spy?

What are we looking for?

• Speaker of poem?• Addressed to what/whom?• Discussing what/whom?• Theme?• Realistic or idealistic?

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”- Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,And we will all the pleasures proveThat valleys, groves, hills, and fields,Woods, or steepy mountain yields.And we will sit upon the rocks,Seeing the shepherds feed their

flocks,By shallow rivers to whose fallsMelodious birds sing madrigals.And I will make thee beds of rosesAnd a thousand fragrant posies,A cap of flowers, and a kirtleEmbroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest woolWhich from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold; A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me and be my love. The shepherds' swains shall dance & sing For thy delight each May morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.

What are we looking for?

• Speaker of poem? Shepherd• Addressed to what/whom? His love,

shepherdess• Discussing what/whom? Shepherdess to

come live with him in harmony with nature• Theme? Link between love & delights of

nature, carpe diem• Realistic or idealistic? Idealistic- the world

he describes does not exist

Sir Walter Raleigh

• 1554?-1618• Navigator, poet, historian• 1584- established Virginia colony

• Drama!– Secret marriage

• Imprisoned in Tower of London, released

– Conspiracy against King James I• Imprisoned in Tower of London- 13 years!

– Seeks gold in Venezuela• Fights Spain against orders, son dies• Forced back to England, executed for

disobedience

What are we looking for?

• Speaker of poem?• Addressed to what/whom?• Discussing what/whom?• Theme?• Realistic or idealistic?

“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”- Sir Walter Raleigh

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

What are we looking for?

• Speaker of poem? Nymph (shepherdess)

• Addressed to what/whom? Shepherd• Discussing what/whom? Turning down

his proposal to live with him• Theme? Change = love’s enemy,

carpe diem• Realistic or idealistic? Realistic