Pastoral Poetry

1. Pastoral Poetry By Alissa Hartenbaum

2. What is it? • Pastoral Poetry is a literary work dealing with shepherds or rural life, typically drawing a contrast between the innocence and serenity of a simple life and the misery and corruption of city (especially court life) • The characters in pastoral poetry are often used as vehicles for the expression of the author's moral, social, or literary views • An eclogue is a type of pastoral poetry which uses "singing matches" between two or more shepherds • There are no set stanza limits, or any particular rhyme scheme for the pastoral poetry form

3. Topics • Love and seduction • The value of poetry • Death and mourning • The corruption of the city or court vs. the "purity" of idealized country life • Politics (generally treated satirically: the "shepherds" critique society or easily identifiable political figures).

4. History of Pastoral Poetry • Pastoral poetry were largely established by the ancient Greek Theocritus. • The tradition was passed from Greece to Rome, where Virgil used it in his Eclogues • Pastoral dramas first appeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. During the 16th and 17th centuries, pastoral romance novels appeared. • Pastoral poets: Sir Phillip Sidney, Robert Greene, Thomas Nash, Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, Thomas, Dekker, John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robert Herrick, Andrew Narvell, Thomas Heywood, Thomas Campion, William Browne, William Drummond, Phineas Fletcher • Pastoral playwrights: William Shakespeare (As You Like It), John Lyly, George Peele, John Fletcher, Ben Johnson, John Day, and James Shirley. • In later centuries, a reaction against the artificialities of the genre, combined with new attitudes to the natural man and the natural scene, resulted in a sometimes bitter injection of reality into the rustic scenes • It was later taken up by Percy Shelley and Mathew Arnold.

5. Christopher Marlowe • Marlowe was a lyricist poet in the early Renaissance • Born 1564 (same year as Shakespeare), and died 1593 in a tavern fight • Son of a shoemaker • He was arrested for being an atheist • This may have led to his belief in the corruptness of cities, a common theme in pastoral poetry • Wrote many tragedies (plays, not poems) • He was the first to write a tragedy in English, which soon inspired Shakespeare to do so as well • Marlowe was the first to use blank verse, which Shakespeare also emulated • He is rumored to possibly BE Shakespeare

7. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” • Published in 1599, and written by Christopher Marlowe • Expresses love by discussing rural life • AABB rhyme scheme. • The meter is iambic tetrameter, with eight syllables (four iambic feet) per line. (An iambic foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.) • Come LIVE.|.with ME.|.and BE.|.my LOVE,   And WE.|.will ALL.|.the PLEA.|.sures PROVEThat HILLS.|.and VALL.|.eys, DALE.|.and FIELD,   And ALL.|.the CRAG.|.gy MOUNT.|.ains YIELD. 

8. Literary Terms • Enjambment- continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break • “And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields.” • Hyperbole- exaggeration • With buckles of the purest gold • A thousand fragrant poises • Static- the poem does not change in opinion or time

9. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” 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; 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 shepherd's 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. Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon 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 poises, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

10. Breakdown • Everything relates back to peaceful country life • Starts with a direct initiation; the speaker showed his purpose clearly, 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. Some of these things are impossible for a poor shepherd, such as gold buckles. Do you think that this is important? • The repeating sentences "come live with me and be my love,” emphasize his eagerness. • There is lots of imagery- visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile • There are no responsibilities in this imaginary life

11. Questions • Would a poem like this still apply today? In what ways? • In what season does the poem take place? How can you tell?

12. WebsitesUsed • http://mzsouljah.tripod.com/Pastoral/ • http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/pastoral.html • http://www.types-of-poetry.org.uk/35-pastoral-poetry-type.htm • http://www.enotes.com/literary-criticism/pastoral-literature-english-renaissance • http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/PassionateShepherd.html • http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/pfs_0000_0022_0/pfs_0000_0022_0_00020.html