Poet’s Corner: Marlowe

24 January 2026

Today (14 March 2014) we look at another famous writer from the 16th century, Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” what is called a ‘pastoral’ poem for its shepherd theme. It is written in iambic tetrameter, with rhymed couplets:

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove [test, try]
That 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 falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool
Which 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 and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

We see expressed the essence of the pastoral: all that is good in nature, and we follow along thinking all is well . . . until the poet tells his love that he will make her a ‘gown of the finest wool’, which is hardly a material for gowns! However, we begin to suspect that the poet is not really a shepherd, for what shepherd has enough gold to make buckles for house slippers! He slips up again, speaking of ‘coral clasps and amber studs’, both materials far beyond the simple means of any shepherd–the poet is a rake, a shark come to the country to woo a pretty shepherdess for what can only be described as nefarious purpose.

What is most famous about this particular poem is the number of ‘replies’–another poet writes from the perspective of the girl, giving her answer, the most famous of which is Sir Walter Raliegh’s response, which we will share next week. Enjoy!