Thursday 23 June 2016

What does the shepherd ask from his love In return?

If I am not mistaken, you are referring to the poem The Passionate Shepherd To His Love by Christopher Marlowe. In the poem, the shepherd offers his love many gifts. All he wants in return is for his love to come and live with him.


As we read, we realize that the shepherd hopes to entice his love with flamboyant gifts. He promises her 'beds of roses' and a 'thousand fragrant posies.' As the poem...

If I am not mistaken, you are referring to the poem The Passionate Shepherd To His Love by Christopher Marlowe. In the poem, the shepherd offers his love many gifts. All he wants in return is for his love to come and live with him.


As we read, we realize that the shepherd hopes to entice his love with flamboyant gifts. He promises her 'beds of roses' and a 'thousand fragrant posies.' As the poem progresses, the promised gifts become even more elaborate in substance. The shepherd shifts from the promised 'kirtle/Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle' to lined slippers with buckles of 'purest gold' and a belt made with 'straw and ivy buds,/With coral clasps and amber studs.' The modern equivalent would be an infatuated, young lover promising expensive cars, jewellery, designer clothing, or any number of ornate gifts to his girlfriend to entice her into moving in with him.


In the poem, the shepherd also plays up the attractions of his surrounding home by drawing his lover's attention to the natural beauties of the 'valleys, groves, hills, and fields,/Woods, or steepy mountains.' He tells her that he is willing to make her life very happy if she would just consent to come and live with him.

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