According to Frank Madden, author of “Exploring Poetry”, “The subject of poetry is human experience”(60). Not only is writing poetry based on experience but also reading it. By breaking down the poem we can identify its rhyme scheme, rhythm, background history, and its implored context which will help us better articulate the poem . Christopher Marlowes poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” has many forms of structure that are important to follow in order to deliver the poem with the rhythm it was meant to be spoken with. The importance of pronunciation doesn’t just depict the aesthetic nature of the poem but also helps us as readers embrace the emotional engulfment of the poem.
Christopher Marlowe was a British poet in the time of the Elizabethan era. The history of a poem can shape the whole interpretation of a poem. If the pronunciation in the poem is not being spoken properly, the whole rhyme scheme can be thrown off and initially effect the way in which one interprets the poem. For example, in stanza five, the last couplet of lines 19 and 20 end with the word move and love. These two words are meant to follow the rhyme scheme of aa/bb. In other words, they need to be pronounce with an Old English accent which would make the word move rhyme with the word love. Frank Madden expresses the importance of language and pronunciation when he states, “When language is effective it prompts our imaginations and provides us with clear images, rhythm, and insight”(101). The background history of the poem not only provides us with the tools we need to read the poem but also the poets language helps us connect with the poem on a personal level.
The speaker in the poem,”The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, performs as the character of the shepherd. The shepherd is speaking to the one he loves and expresses all that he can offer her. The shepherd expresses this form of offering when he states, “ 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”(Marlowe). It is human nature for us to be able to connect with this poem because love is a common experience that requires us to interact and express what we have to offer the person we would like to share the rest of our lives with. Marlowe uses engaging language that allows his readers to fully imagine the gown and the slippers he is offering his love. Thinking back on the time period, the statement of being able to offer the purest gold for buckles on a pair of slippers that were meant for ones feet depicted the class and wealth that the shepherd has. Knowing the time period can help us grasp a better understanding of the poem that we might have otherwise bypassed.
As mentioned earlier, a poem is a reflection of experience. According to Louis H. Leiter’s journal “Deification through Love: Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, “The experience of feeling “love”, the transformative or expansive effect of passion on human beings has permeated the seemingly simple pastoral landscape” (445). Poetry can also help grasp readers by way of inexperience. For example, If someone had never fallen in love before they would have a small sense of what love has been like for others. People are able to open up their imaginations and discover new experiences through poetry. However, this brings up the issue of interpretation. People will come to interpret ones poem based on their own experiences. The person who has been infatuatedly in love will have a completely different interpretation than a person who has never been in love.
Marlowe uses the tool of repetition in three out of his six stanzas. In repetition we often find the importance that the speaker is trying to evoke. In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” the line “ Come live with me, and be thy love” is the repetitious line that the character the shepherd is trying to convey. The emotion becomes much more significant when the poem conveys repetition. When the speaker speaks this line throughout the poem we become to realize the urgency the shepherd has in his chance to offer all that he has to the one he loves. The common curiosity that builds in Marlowe’s readers is the unanswered response that the lover will give the shepherd.
The experience of reading poetry allows the reader to developed different interpretations of the poem after each reading. Have you ever discovered something new when reading the poem the second time around? Being able to formulate new interpretations and experiences through reading poetry is more important than trying to figure out the poets exact meaning for the poem. Often times poets don’t or didn’t have the chance to explain the meaning of their poem. By not including an exact meaning the poet is allowing their reader to develop their own perception of the poem. By open interpretation readers are able to experience an emotional connection with poetry.
Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is a beautiful poem that is best read out loud. The articulation of the poem is best displayed through the urgency and passion that the shepherd expresses while trying to win the heart of his love. The background history and the rhyme scheme helps the reader better understand how the poem should be projected. Not only does Christopher Marlowe connect with his readers on an emotional level through his poem but also provides his readers with an experience.
Works Cited
Leiter, Louis H. "College English." National Council of Teachers of English 27.6 (1966): 444-49. Web.Madden, Frank. Exploring Poetry: Writing and Thinking about Poetry. New York: Longman, 2002. Print.
Smith, Philip. 100 Best-loved Poems. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.
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