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A poem that invites a lover to live with him and enjoy the pleasures of nature. The shepherd offers to make her a crown of flowers, a gown of wool, and a belt of straw and ivy.
The line "Come live with me and be my love" was the inspiration for the 1941 film Come Live with Me, as well as the song "Come Live with Me" sung by Tony Scotti in the 1967 film Valley of the Dolls. It was also the third of the Liebeslieder Polkas for Mixed Chorus and Piano Five Hands , written by fictional composer P. D. Q. Bach ( Peter ...
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- Meter
- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
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‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ by Christopher Marlowedescribes the life that a shepherd wishes to create for his lover if she agrees to come and live with him. The poem begins with the speakerasking his lover to come and be with him forever. If she does this simple thing, they will be able to experience all the joy that the world has to offe...
In ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love‘, Christopher Marlowe employs iambic tetrameter, a rhythmic pattern of four iambs per line, giving the poem a melodious and inviting quality. This meter differs from the more solemn iambic pentameter, which he uses in his plays, signaling a deliberate choice for a lighter, more playful tone in this pastoral p...
Stanza One
The speaker of this poem, the “Passionate Shepherd,” begins by making the one request of his lover that serves as the basis for the rest of the poem. He at once lives up to his name as he asks his unnamed lover to “Come live with me.” He is hoping that she, upon hearing his request, will leave whatever life she is living behind, and come and “be [his] love” wherever he may be. He does not leave her without some idea of what it will be like to live with him, in fact, he spends the majority of...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza of ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’, the speaker goes on to describe some day-to-day details of what their lives would be like together. He states that they will “sit upon the Rocks” of this new and beautiful world they are living in together and “See” the “Shepherds” with their flocks of sheep. They will observe the world that they used to live in and appreciate its intricacies. Due to the fact that their lives are now devoted to one another and to the world they in...
Stanza Three
The shepherd still has a number of different enticements to offer his lover in the hope that she will join him. He describes how he will “make [her] a bed of Roses.” He will fill her life with flowers by creating for her a “kirtle” or an outer gown, and a “cap,” which will all be “Embroidered…with the leaves of Myrtle,” a common flowering shrub.
A pastoral poem by Christopher Marlowe that describes the life a shepherd wishes to create for his lover. He offers her flowers, clothing, and music, and invites her to come and be his love in the countryside.
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
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. This poem is in the public domain. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - Come live with ...
A romantic poem that invites a lover to live with him and enjoy the pleasures of nature. The shepherd offers to make her a crown of flowers, a gown of wool, and a belt of coral and amber.
A poem by Christopher Marlowe that invites a lover to live with him and enjoy the pleasures of nature. Listen to the recording by Ian McKellen and read the full text of the quatrains and rhyming couplets.
The Full Text of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”. 1 Come live with me and be my love, 2 And we will all the pleasures prove, 3 That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, 4 Woods, or steepy mountain yields. 5 And we will sit upon the Rocks, 6 Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, 7 By shallow Rivers to whose falls.
