"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (1599), by Christopher Marlowe, is a pastoral poem from the

English Renaissance The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th cent ...

(1485–1603). Marlowe composed the poem in

iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a poetic meter in ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spondee and an iamb, or two iambs. Ther ...

(four feet of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable) in six stanzas, and each stanza is composed of two rhyming couplets; thus the first line of the poem reads: "Come live with me and be my love".

The poem

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (1599) by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)

Come live with me, and be my love; And we will all the pleasures prove That hills and valleys, dales 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 linèd 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.

Effect and Influence

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebelli ...

replied to Marlowe's shepherd with the poem "

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd (1600), by Walter Raleigh, is a poem that responds to and parodies the poem " The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (1599), by Christopher Marlowe. In replying to the shepherd's invitation, the nymph presents h ...

" (1600) with romantic realism countering romantic idealism, such as the ''Passionate Shepherd'' perceiving the Nymph as an object to love and not as a woman. As courtier and as a poet, Raleigh was the more realistic man and artist than was Christopher Marlow; thus, the Nymph's dismissive reply to the shepherd's talk of ideal love in the country. Subsequent responses to Marlowe have come from numerous other writers, including John Donne, Izaak Walton, Robert Herrick, C. Day Lewis,

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's bes ...

, W. D. Snodgrass, Douglas Crase and Greg Delanty. In about 1846 the composer

William Sterndale Bennett Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 18161 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. B ...

set the words as a four-part

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance music, Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque music, Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The Polyphony, polyphoni ...

. In the 1939 film ''

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex ''The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'' is a 1939 American historical romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Olivia de Havilland. Based on the play '' Elizabeth the Queen'' by Maxwell Anders ...

'', both poems are sung as a duet by Mistress Margaret Radcliffe (

Nanette Fabray Nanette Fabray (born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares; October 27, 1920 – February 22, 2018) was an American actress, singer, and dancer. She began her career performing in vaudeville as a child and became a musical-theatre actress dur ...

), singing Marlowe's original words, and Lady Penelope Gray (

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...

) taking Raleigh's rebuttal. The performance infuriates Queen Elizabeth (

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

) whose doomed love for Robert Devereaux, 2nd Earl of Essex (

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

), 32 years her junior, is the subject of the story. 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 Schickele "Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted ...

) and performed by the Swarthmore College Chorus in 1980. In "Birthday Madrigals" (1995)

John Rutter John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...

sets both poems, giving Marlowe's words to tenors and basses, with the women singing Raleigh's reply, and the men singing over the women, changing the feel from question and reply to two people not listening each other. The poem was adapted for the lyrics of the 1930s-style swing song performed by Stacey Kent at the celebratory ball in the 1995 film of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' Richard III''. Other songs to draw lyrics from the poem include The Prayer Chain song "Antarctica" (1996) from the album of the same name, and The Real Tuesday Weld song "Let It Come Down" from their album ''The Last Werewolf'' (2011). In 2015, the Royal Shakespeare Company used a version of the song in its production (set at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

) of ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'' (under the name '' Love's Labour's Won''), played by the character Balthasar (Harry Waller), and sung by the whole cast.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Passionate Shepherd To His Love, The 1590s poems Poetry by Christopher Marlowe Poems published posthumously Fictional shepherds