We pull out of the finest wool from our lambs to make a pretty gown. And a pair of high-qualited slippers will be made for you, to keep you from being cold. On the slippers I will put buckles, which was made of purest gold.
A belt of straw and buds,
With clasps and ;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
Also, I will make you a belt of straw and ivy buds with coral clasps and amber studs. If these pleasure may touch your heart, come live with me and be my love.
The shepherd shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these pleasure may thee move,
Then live with me and be my love.
The young shepherd shall dance and sing in each May morning to delight you, and if you may be touched by these delights, then live with me and be my love.
Vocabulary
Grove (L 3) ~ a group of tree that are closed together
Steepy (L 4) ~ rise at a very sharp angle and is difficult to go up
Madrigal (L 8) a song sung by several singers without any musical instruments
Posy (L 10) ~a small bunch of flowers
Kirtle (L 11) ~ gown
Embroider (L 12) ~ is the activity of stitching designs onto cloth
Gown (L 13) ~ is a dress, usually a long dress
Buckle (L16) ~ is a piece of metal attached to one end of the belt
Ivy (L 17) ~ an evergreen plant that grows up walls or along the ground
Coral (L 18) ~ a hard substance formed from the skeletons of very small sea animals. It is often used to make jewelry
Amber (L 18) ~ is a hard yellowish-brown substance used for making jeweler
Stud (L 18) ~ earring
Swain (L 20) ~ a young man who is in love
Structure
The poetry started out with a direct initiation. The speaker showed his purpose clearly, which is asking the woman he admired to be his lover. The following stanza showed a picture on what he would promise if she accepts to be his love. There was a heavenly like scene in the picture, he imagined them sitting upon the rocks, watching the other busy shepherd who had to work hard, and they relaxed themselves by listening to the birds' singing, and seeing the river falls. The shepherd also ensured her that he is willing to do whatever it takes to please her. This could be seen from the line 9~18. He made promises on difficult mission such as making bed of roses, thousand fragrant posies, and leaves of myrtle, coral clasps and amber studs¡Kext. From line 19, it responded to the idea of the first stanza that is to persuade the woman to be his love and to live with him. The repeating sentences "come live with me and be my love," may work as the function of emphasizing, and expression of eagerness.
Speaker and Listener
The speaker is a passionate shepherd. He promises to his love a fanciful, and somehow an unrealistic future. The shepherd does not rank high in the society; he is probably not wealthy at all. However, he is a very poetic person, he that imply possible proposal in the poetry. This statement is seen from words such as bed, slipper, and kirtle. Those daily used subjects in the family. The listener in this poetry is the shepherd's lover. There are no clues on her personality or appearance.
Tone
Passionate, eager, desirous, fanciful, dedicatory
Imagery
Visual images
Sound images:
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
Smell images
A thousand fragrant posies
Touch images:
A gown made of the finest wool, fair lined slippers
Diction
Ivy buds --- ivy is a kind of evergreen plant
Myrtle --- it's the tree of Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty)
By Robyn
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Pastoral Poem
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is a pastoral poem, a poetic kind that concerns itself with the simple life of country folk and describes that life in stylized, idealized terms. The people in a pastoral poem are usually (as here) shepherds, although they may be fisherman or other rustics who lead an outdoor life and are involved in tending to basic human needs in a simplified society, beauty, music, and love. The world always seems timeless in pastoral; people are eternally young, and the season is always spring, usually May. Nature seems endlessly green and the future entirely golden. Difficulty, frustration, disappointment, and obligation do not belong in the golden ideal world at all. The language of pastoral is informal and sophisticated than that of real shepherds with real problems and real sheep. The pastoral poet builds an awareness of artificiality into the whole idea of the poem echoing the Renaissance aesthetic value of artificial design. P.F. "Ode on a Grecian Urn"-"Cold Pastoral"
By Vickie
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Personal Opinion