British Literature 1

1. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

''The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'' is a pastoral poem written by Christopher

Marlowe. It was published in 1599.
Summary
''The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'' centers around a narrator who is trying to
woo his love and convince her to come spend her life with him. This poem is a pastoral
poem, which means it is a poem about emotions and is set in nature. Pastoral poems
usually romanticize idyllic rural settings and landscapes. In this particular pastoral poem,
the narrator shares with his love all he and the land can give to her if she will just promise
to be his.
Stanzas 1-2
In the first stanza, the narrator sets up his proposition with ''Come live with me
and be my love'' and then goes on to tell her what that love will bring her. He tells her
that they will gain all the pleasures that the land and natural landscape have to offer.
The second stanza speaks of a simple life filled with leisure. They will sit upon
rocks and watch what shepherds feed their flocks. There will be waterfalls and birds
singing.
In these stanzas, nature and those involved in it are the backdrops to their serenity.
Stanzas 3-4
The third stanza is all about flowers. The narrator pledges to make his love a bed
of roses and fragrant posies. He tells her that he would make her a cap of flowers and a
kirtle embroidered with myrtle. A kirtle is a piece of clothing frequently worn over a
petticoat.
In the fourth stanza, he tells his love what they will wear, saying it will all be the
finest. They will pull wool from their pretty lambs, and he will make her ''a gown made
of the finest wool''. Their slippers will be lined so they will not get cold. They will use the
purest gold for their buckles.
 Stanzas 5-6
The fifth stanza continues on with clothing, and the narrator tells his love that their
belts will be made of straw and ivy buds ''With Coral clasps and Amber studs.''
After describing all he can give her, he implores her that if these things will move
her, she should come and be his love.
The poem ends with the sixth stanza. He tells her that the swains (young lovers)
will dance and sing each morning in May just for her delight. Again, he ends the stanza
imploring her that if this all should bring her delight and pleasure, then she should ''live
with me, and be my love.''
Symbolism
Flowers are strong symbols in this poem. Roses are often used to symbolize love,
sensuality, and passion, while myrtle represents good luck in marriage. The posies he
mentions have a twofold meaning: the flower and poetry. He plans to make her beds of
both.
Shepherds
Shepherds are, literally speaking, people who tend sheep, monitoring the flocks as
they graze. They are charged with protecting the sheep from wolves and bringing them in
from the pasture at night. In the pastoral, a genre of poetry that stretches back to ancient
Greece, shepherds are often invoked as key figures. Pastoral poems describe the lives of
shepherds and their work, and they are (like this poem) often written in shepherds’
voices.
These poems generally treat shepherds as symbols. The shepherds often stand in
as symbols for all kinds of work: most broadly, they represent labor itself, the work that
human beings to do feed and clothe themselves. Additionally, because of their close
connection to animals and nature, shepherds also symbolize the natural world and
humans' connection to it.
Finally, because the shepherds in pastoral poems often engage in song and dance,
they also serve as symbols for poets themselves. (Indeed, in many pastoral poems, the
shepherds seem to do far more singing and dancing than they do sheep-herding). In this
sense, the shepherds present a kind of convenient screen: the poets can articulate their
desires and their political complaints in someone else’s mouth, someone distant from the
political complications of city life.
Myrtle
Myrtle is a flowering plant. It is native to the Mediterranean, where the
pastoral genre of poetry originated. It does not naturally grow in England, the country
where Marlowe wrote "The Passionate Shepherd." Invoking it in this poem thus signals
the speaker's allegiances: he wants his "love" to imagine Greek and Roman—not English
— landscapes, and moreover, he makes it clear that he intends those landscapes to be the
idealized ones of pastoral poetry.
Indeed, myrtle is often invoked in Greek and Roman poetry and ritual. In Greek
mythology, for instance, the plant is sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of desire and love.
The plant thus serves as a double symbol in "The Passionate Shepherd." On the one hand,
it symbolizes desire and love itself, serving as a subtle reminder that this is a poem of
seduction. On the other, it captures in a symbol the poem's cultural and poetic
allegiances: this is a poem which owes a lot to Greek and Roman poetry and, with its
invocation of myrtle, acknowledges those debts.
Lambs
Lambs are young sheep. In western literature, lambs often serve as symbols for
innocence and purity. For instance, Jesus Christ is often referred to in the Bible as the
“Lamb of God:” he is not only God’s child, he is also innocent and pure. After his
resurrection, Christ becomes the "Good Shepherd," with the Christian Church as his
flock. In this way, the congregation takes on—if only aspirationally—Christ's innocence
and purity. The lambs likely function in a similar way here: the speaker invokes them in
part as a way to emphasize the innocence and purity of rural life. (Indeed, one would
generally shear wool from a full-grown sheep, not a lamb, which makes the speakers
mention of lambs all the more significant.)
Ivy
 In the Renaissance, many poets used ivy as a symbol for marriage between a man
and a woman. In this symbol, the ivy symbolizes the female partner in the marriage; she
is paired with an oak tree, which represents the male partner. The ivy grows up the trunk
of the oak tree; the oak tree provides support for it. The traditional symbol thus makes
certain assumptions about the gender roles of each partner in the marriage: the male
partner provides a sturdy support; the female partner depends on that support. (Indeed,
the ivy would die without the oak tree.)
“The Passionate Shepherd” does not make explicit reference to this tradition, but
its early readers would’ve likely heard its echoes: the ivy and the oak were almost
proverbial in Marlowe's culture. The speaker invokes that tradition in a potentially
subversive way. If his “love” is a woman—as many readers assume—then she has taken
on the traditionally male role of the oak tree, supporting the “ivy buds” by wearing them
on her body. If, on the other hand, his "love" is a man, then the speaker and his love are
mimicking the symbols of heterosexual love and infusing them with homoerotic energy.
Mood
The mood in the poem is one of innocence and beauty. The idyllic settings
described are used moreso to set a tone than to present reality since all the darkness and
hardship of a shepherd's life are ignored. The flowers discussed remind a reader of spring,
of a new beginning. He promises her freshness in a world forever in its youth. The
realities of providing for themselves are never mentioned. There is no work and no
discussion of providing for themselves. The portrayal of love is one in which the world
works for them rather than them having to manipulate the world in order to meet their
needs. Hope reigns supreme.
Literary Devices
Hyperbole: exaggerations for emphasis. Examples of hyperbole are in the
overblown descriptions of the idyllic setting. Specific instances are the ''thousand fragrant
posies'' he will use to make her bed of roses, as well as the belts of finest gold that surely
a shepherd could not come by.
 Alliteration: repetition of beginning sounds. Examples of alliteration are ''Coral
clasps'' and ''pleasures prove.''
Metaphor: the drawing of a comparison without using the words ''like'' or ''as''. In
the poem, Marlowe compares the birds singing to madrigals.
Repetition: repeating words and phrases. The last couplets of the final two stanzas
contain very close repetition.
2. The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
A Nymph is a beautiful and graceful young lady. She is the personification of
beauty. This poem was written as a parody reply to the poem “The Passionate Shepherd
to Love” by Christopher Marlowe.
This poem illustrates the rejection of the nymph to the love proposal by the
shepherd. Although the nymph adheres to the proposal initially, she quickly reminds the
shepherd how short life is and how easily forgotten it is.
She embarks on the ephemeral nature of life and how someone should be practical
with understanding life rather than get led away by emotion. Sentiments take over the
reasoning capability of a person.
The concept of lust over love has been beautifully illustrated in the poem. The
emptiness of love over the span of time has been highlighted in this poem.
She reminds the shepherd not to offer her extravagant gifts. She will not get
swayed away by these gifts or the shepherd’s blandishments and fall for him.
Structure of The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
The poem consists of six quatrains, with each stanza the fusion of two rhymed
couplets. The predominant meter of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is iambic
tetrameter, i.e., each line consists of four iambic feet.
The rhyming scheme followed in the poem is of the type AABB CCDD.
The Nymph’s Reply To The Shepherd Analysis Literary Devices
There has been the use of various literary devices like metaphors, alliteration,
caesura, etc.
 The use of an apostrophe is seen in the entire course of the poem. An apostrophe is
when the speaker of the poem refers to a person who is not physically present in the
scene- in this case, it is the shepherd.
Alliteration is the employment of repeated consonant sounds in words that are
close to one another. An example of alliteration employed in this poem is “Rivers rage
and Rocks”.
A metaphor is a speech figure where a word or phrase is applied to an object or
action that is not literally relevant. The application of metaphor in this poem is
highlighted in the phrase “A honey tongue, a heart of gall”.
In the line “Time drives the flocks from field to fold”, time has been personified.
An allusion is a literary device where an intended or indirect reference to a person,
event, or thing or a part of another text is mentioned. The phrase” Philomel becometh
dumb” makes practical use of allusion.
Stanza One:
“If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every Shepherd’s tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move,
To live with thee, and be thy love.”
These lines bring forward the pragmatic nature of the speaker. She believes that
only external manifestations are not enough to survive in this world.
If the utopian world described by the shepherd existed in real life, the nymph
probably would have accepted the proposal and go ahead with the shepherd. The
nymph’s rejection is about to present in the next lines can be presumed from these lines.
Stanza Two
“Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When Rivers rage and Rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb,
The rest complains of cares to come.”
 These lines highlight that time fades away, no matter how hard you try to hold
onto it. The nymph embarks on time’s futility- everything has a beginning and is bounded
by an end.
She mentions that the flocks go from the fields to an end, and the rivers show their
wrath, and rocks become clammy under the reigns of time.
Philomel is a nightingale. The nightingale loses her voice with growing time.
All these changes show that nothing is permanent. However, although everyone
else is concerned by these changes, the naive shepherd is not worried. He is occupied by
thoughts of things that have no reality and are just fragments of his dream.
Stanza Three:
“The flowers do fade, and wanton fields,
To wayward winter reckoning yields,
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.”
One should not live in the moment and think about the future. Sooner or later,
everything fades away.
Every beautiful and prosperous thing eventually wither away in the dooms of time.
Blooming flowers lose their freshness, and wanton fields lose their crops. The ruin
brought by the winter after the flourishing spring is inevitable.
The “honey tongue” can be considered synonymous with the spring, which brings
lots of riches but is ultimately met with the bitter winter bringing “sorrow’s fall”.
Stanza Four:
“Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of Roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten:
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.”
The nymph points to the illusion of gifts. Gifts are nothing but materialistic
possession which lose their value in the coming times. They will cease to exist and lose
their meaning or value attached to them and depart at the end of time.
 They are simply temptations that hold meaning in the present time but lose that
glory eventually. They are “soon forgotten.” The lines bring forward the idea of love
being beyond earthy possessions.
Stanza Five:
“Thy belt of straw and Ivy buds,
The Coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.”
The speaker’s thoughts are fixated on decay and perishment. The lines make us
interpret love from a real perspective than a sugar-coated approach of only passion. The
emphasis on Tempus fugit is relevant throughout the poem.
The unsubstantial insignificance fades away and what is left is to face the realities
of life, which are harsh.
The beauty of nature and its extravagance filled with ivy buds and coral clasps
perish just like the feeling of love. The speaker’s tone is filled with mockery, where she
derides the transient nature of all the things that exist.
She speaks with a determination that these short sources of recreation are not
enough to garner her attention or love. She is in search of something more long-lasting
and timeless.
These greedy pleasures have no place in her heart, and she is governed with
rational thoughts than getting carried away by petty things.
Stanza Six:
“But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee, and be thy love.”
The use of the word “But” at the beginning of this stanza changes the poem’s tone
from pessimistic to optimistic. There is still a ray of hope for the love between the two to
bloom.
 The nymph mentions that if love remains young and the passion never dies, their
love will blossom. The mortality of the shepherd can never make their love eternal.
However, it helps to demonstrate that even though all likelihoods seem against the
start of their love, there can still be a flash of belief left in mind. This last bit of hope
helps to obliterate the other morbid thoughts of end and death characterized in the earlier
stanzas.
British Literature 2

Robinson Crusoe is the protagonist of the novel and demonstrates character traits

that make him worthy of praise as the hero of the story. His persistence against his
father’s advice of not leaving home for his voyages, his perseverance in building a boat
and domesticate animals, and his hard work of teaching Friday and sharing The Gospel
and English education set him apart in the list of heroes used in the stories of those times.
In this connection, Robinson not only shows his resourcefulness but also his intelligence
in that he is able to survive on the island and cultivate nature to assist him to leave the
island that he ultimately does. His intelligence is also evidenced in his act of investing in
the Brazil plantation and saving his life when he is on the boat. However, his character is
not without flaws; he is, in a sense, incentivizing colonialism. Despite this, his generosity
of giving gifts to his family and others, his assistance to humanity, and his concern for
human beings are praiseworthy qualities that win him the love of his family and friends.
The writing style of Daniel Defoe in Robinson Crusoe is simple and direct in the
first-person narrative as told by Robinson himself, the main narrator. The presentation of
details to show realism through a travelogue demonstrates the journalistic capability of
the author but at the same time, he has also used long sentences and spare use
of adjectives. As far as the devices are concerned, the author is dexterous in the use of
metaphors and extended similes along with rhetorical devices of pathos, ethos, and logos.
The use of navigational jargon and maritime vocabulary has also played a role in lending
credence to Robinson’s story.
Analysis of the Literary Devices in Robinson Crusoe
 Action: The main action of the novel comprises the whole life, growth, and voyages
of Robinson Crusoe until the end of his life in England. The rising action occurs when
Crusoe shows disobedience to his father and leaves for a voyage with a merchant.
The falling action occurs when he faces a shipwreck on his second adventure and finds
himself stranded on an island at the mercy of animals and cannibals.
Characters: The novel shows both static as well as dynamic characters. The young
man, Robinson Crusoe, is a dynamic character as he shows a considerable transformation
in his behavior and conduct by the end of the novel. However, all other characters are
static as they do not show or witness any transformation such as Friday, The English
captain, Xury, or even his father.
Hyperbole: The novel shows various examples of hyperboles such as,
i. I expected every Wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the
Ship fell down, as I thought, in the Trough or Hollow of the Sea.
ii. I got up out of my Cabbin, and look’d out; but such a dismal Sight I never saw:
The Sea went Mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four Minutes.
iii. Then all Hands were called to the Pump. At that very Word my Heart, as I
thought, died within me, and I fell backwards upon the Side of my Bed where I sat, into
the Cabbin. These examples exaggerate things as the wave swallowing up, the sea high as
mountains, and the heart has died.
Imagery: Robinson Crusoe shows the use of imagery as shown in the below
examples,
i. It happen’d one time, that going a fishing in a stark calm Morning, a Fog rose so
thick, that tho’ we were not half a League from the Shoar we lost Sight of it; and rowing
we knew not whither or which way, we labour’d all Day and all the next Night, and when
the Morning came we found we had pull’d off to Sea instead of pulling in for the Shoar;
and that we were at least two Leagues from the Shoar:
However we got well in again, tho’ with a great deal of Labour, and some Danger; for the
Wind began to blow pretty fresh in the Morning; but particularly we were all very
hungry.
 ii. The Mouth of this Hollow, was at the Bottom of a great Rock, where by meer
accident, (I would say, if I did not see abundant Reason to ascribe all such Things now to
Providence) I was cutting down some thick Branches of Trees, to make Charcoal; and
before I go on, I must observe the Reason of my making this Charcoal; which was thus.
These two examples show images of color, light, and sight.
Metaphor: Robinson Crusoe shows good use of various metaphors as given in the
below examples,
i. I cast my Eyes to the stranded Vessel, when the Breach and Froth of the Sea being
so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far off, and considered, Lord! how was it possible I
could get on Shore?
ii. My Thoughts were now wholly employ’d about securing my self against either
Savages, if any should appear, or wild Beasts, if any were in the Island.
iii. How can he sweeten the bitterest Providences, and give us Cause to praise him
for Dungeons and Prisons. What a Table was here spread for me in a Wilderness, where I
saw nothing at first but to perish for Hunger. These examples show that several things
have been compared directly in the novel such as the first shows his eyes as if they are a
net, the second his thoughts as if they are hooks, and the last the island as if it is a table.
Rhetorical Questions: The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions at several
places such as,
i. But judge you, if you can, that read my Story, what a Surprize I must be in, when
I was wak’d out of my Sleep by a Voice calling me by my Name several
times, Robin, Robin, Robin Crusoe, poor Robin Crusoe, where are you Robin Crusoe?
Where are you? Where have you been?
ii. I do not mean, that I entertain’d any Fear of their Number; for as they were
naked, unarm’d Wretches, ’tis certain I was superior to them; nay, though I had been
alone; but it occurr’d to my Thoughts, What Call? What Occasion? much less, What
Necessity I was in to go and dip my Hands in Blood, to attack People, who had neither
done, or intended me any Wrong? This example shows the use of rhetorical questions
posed by Robinson Crusoe to himself not to elicit answers but to stress upon the
underlined idea.
 Mood: The novel shows various moods; it starts on a happy and optimistic note but
turns out highly somber and dreadful as it moves and ends in a hopeful mood.
Motif: Most important motifs of the novel are isolation, individuality, society, and
religion.
Narrator: The novel is narrated from the first-person point of view, who is the
protagonist, Robinson Crusoe. The novel starts when he starts his narrative of navigating
the seas and ends when he returns home after long voyages.