reading report(09-2黄晓娟).doc

Huang XiaojuanEnglish Literature2011.11.29Appreciation of the Passionate Shepherd to His Love The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a poem written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe and published in 1599 (six years after the poets death). After reading the poem, i become interested in the author - Christopher Marlowe, so i search the Internet for more about his information. Following is about his life, including education, plays, dramas etc. . Chiristopher Marlowe is the most prominent pastoral poet in the Elizabethan age. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is one of Marlowes most famous works, which influenced many generations. The narrator expressed his innocent, deep love to his admired girl through musical beauty and magnificent images in the poem and called her to live with him and be his love. Sound and image count a lot in this outstanding poem. He was an English dramatist and poet. Probably the greatest English dramatist before Shakespeare. Education: Marlowe was educated at Cambridge and he went to London in 1587, where he became an actor and dramatist for the Lord Admirals Company. Plays: His most important plays are the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587), Dr. Faustus (c. 1588), The Jew of Malta (c. 1589), and Edward II (c. 1592). Marlowes dramas: his dreams have heroic themes, usually centering on a great personality who is destroyed by his own passion and ambition. The use of the language: The poetic beauty and dignity of his language raise them to the level of high art. Marlowe death: In 1593, Marlowe was stabbed in a barroom brawl by a drinking companion. 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 Shakespeares Richard III. It was also the third of the Liebeslieder Polkas for Mixed Chorus and Piano Five Hands, written by P.D.Q. Bach (released in 1980) and performed by the Swarthmore College Chorus. In addition to being one of the most well-known love poems in the English language, it is considered one of the earliest examples of the pastoral style of British poetry in the late Renaissance period. It is composed in iambic tetrameter , with seven stanzas each composed of two rhyming couplets. It is often used for scholastic purposes because the poem is a good example of regular meter and rhythm. When read this poem, we can strong feel the musical beauty. It is in regular iambic tetrameter with rhyme scheme aabb. Out of 24 lines, only 7 lines are not iambic. It makes the whole poem a beautiful folk song, sometime high, sometime low, reflecting the intensive emotion of the shepherd. At the beginning, the narrator called out directly come live with me and be my love, showing his aspiration. The repetition of the sentence promotes the emotion, and perfects the structure. In the poem, out of 8 vowels, half are long vowels and half are short or diphthongs. They are set in the order of short, long, short,long ,with long vowels stressed and short vowels unstressed.The long vowels that gentle, quiet express the shepherds bosoming love to the girl. While the short vowels that are jumping, lively reveals the shepherds athrill emotion. This juxtaposition of vowels makes the poem smooth but not slow,relaxed but not loose, and finally becomes a delightful, melodious love song. In lines 1-4, there is an unidentified shepherd and woman. The shepherd invites the woman live with him and to be his lover. He thinks they will live a happy life in nature. Because he goes on saying: there are valleys 、hills and so on. The first sentence “Come live with me and be my love”, poet uses the alliteration. In my opinion, poet uses the alliteration to connect “live” with “love”. He aims at expressing the theme of this poetry especially. In the sentence, the other alliteration is “me” and “my”. We can understand obviously from it: the love story is about the shepherd himself. I think the poet uses the cross of two alliterations in the first sentence to give readers a feeling of waved. The second sentence “And we will all the pleasures prove”, in this sentence poet uses two alliterations. For example, “we” and “will”, “pleasures” and “prove”. In lines 5-8, the shepherd imagines a beautiful picture. He and his lover sit on the rocks and watch the flocks are fed. Then the poet describes a spring scene. There are small rivers 、some birds who are singing madrigal. I think it is a very nice picture and a romantic scene. The sentence “Melodious birds sing madrigals”, the poet use the personification .It makes the scene lively and leads us thinking the story happened in the spring. The second sentence “Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks”, in the sentence poet uses two alliterations. For example, “seeing” and “shepherds”, “feed” and “flocks”. In lines 9-12, the shepherd gives many promises to his lover. If she can agree to come and live with him, he will make many beds which are made of roses and a thousand fragrant posies. It is well known that the promises are impossible. The poet uses the exaggeration in the sentences. It is used for attracting his lover and making a romantic atmosphere. The myrtle flower is about the goddess Venus .It symbolizes the love. In the sentence “ Embroider d all with leaves of myrtle”, poet uses the symbolism . In lines 13-16, the shepherd continues to give his lover many promises. He wants to give her a best gown. Because the gown is made of the finest wool. And the wool comes from their pretty lambs. The poet describes a graceful and romantic activity. He will make a slipper for his lover. The use of “fair lined” to describe the slippers refers to the sex fair. We can know the poet respects the female very much from it. The buckles of slippers are the purest gold. The poet wants to tell us the shepherd can give his lover all the riches that he can provide. We can see the shepherd loves her dearly. In lines 17-20，the woman wears beautiful dresses. Because it is decorated with coral clasps and amber studs. In this sentence “With coral clasps and amber studs”, the poet uses the alliteration. For example, “coral” and “clasps” . The shepherd expresses his wish again in the last sentence. He wants her to come live with him and be his love. He says it again for his lover to hope she can agree. We can see the shepherds endless love for his lover. In the sentence “And if these pleasures may thee move”, the poet uses two alliterations. Such as “these” and “thee” , “may” and “move”. In lines 21-24, the shepherd imagines a wonderful future. If the woman lives with him and to be his love, they will live a happy life. They can dance and sing in each May morning. We know May is spring and it is full of hope. So I think the shepherd never gives up his love. In the last sentence he stresses “Then live with me and be my love” again. The sentence connects with the first sentence “Come live with me and be my love” . In the sentence “For thy delight each May morning” , the poet uses the alliteration. For example , “May” and “morning” . In the sentence “If these delights thy mind may move” , the poet uses two alliterations . Such as “these” and “thy” , “mind” 、“may” and “move” . A good song must have good lyrics. The narrator used various beautiful things that to be seen, heard, touched, smelled to fulfill this love song. In the first stanza, the shepherd depicted us a harmonious rustic life picture. The valleys, groves, hills,fields, woods and mountains are typical pastoral images, which construct an fresh atmosphere at the beginning. Then the narrator used rivers, bird -sings, rose bed, ivy bus, etc from different aspects showed his love to the girl. The rustic images are clear and fresh, symboling the innocent love without any dirty purposes. Girls are all found of romance, so rose bed, gown, ivy buds appeared to persuade the girl to be his love. If she agree, all these niceness will be in her hand. Whats more, various clours appear to readers eyes. Green hill, white river, golden, red rose bed are full of passion and romance, which showed that the narrators was enthusiastic and even a little nervous. From it, we can feel he is quite serious and zealous to his affection. Beside, myrtle and ivy bus belongs to Venus who was supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. They implicated that the girl was the most beautiful one in his eyes. No woman cant be unmoved by such a passionate, romantic man.At last, the narrator used if to ask whether the girl would accept his love, showing his respect to his admired girl. In this poetry, the poet uses much alliteration. When we read the poetry, it can make us feel a sense of music. And it contributed to express the poets emotion. In the poetry, the shepherd loves his lover dearly. The poet uses this poetry to praise the shepherd true love 、endless love. The shepherd to his passionate love -this short poem is of the most beautiful lyrics in english literature. it has inherited the style of the lyrics. the shepherd enjoys life in the country and the purity of her lovers affections in the poem. According to the description of the worlds lovers life in the mountains and plains without anything c