Christopher Marlowe is known by many to be the competition to William Shakespeare from the movie Shakespeare in Love. Certainly he was a popular playwright and poet at the time of Queen Elizabeth. The first few lines of The Passionate Shepherd to his Love are known by many.
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 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
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle:
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 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 delightful poem offers the heart-felt adoration of a shepherd to his darling. He cannot offer her gold and silver; he does not have palaces and wine. Instead, he can make her a bed of roses, a belt of straw and ivy buds. He is a simple man, but everything he has, he will share with her.
July - A Poem A Day
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