Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd for His Love" and Andrew Marvell's "To His Shy Mistress" offer powerful examples of sensual, carpe diem Renaissance poetry. In both poems, the speaking poets attempt to spur their loved ones into action through various compliments and rhythmic patterns that create a rushed tone. However, the tactics of the stakeholders diverge at this stage. Marlowe's poet-speaker focuses on an abstract pastoral hypothesis peppered with innuendo in an attempt to win the affections of his love interest. In contrast, Marvell's speaker takes a much more explicit and logical approach in lamenting the consequences of their delayed union and urging his lover not to waste time in consummating their relationship. Ultimately, both poet-speakers focus on carpe diem as a tool to persuade their lovers of the point of view. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Marlowe's poet-speaker, the shepherd, sets the poem's sensual, rushed tone in the first two lines, saying “ Come live with me and by my love / and we will prove all the pleasures” (1-2). In these lines, the shepherd uses the imperative to show the seriousness of his affections as well as vague insinuations in the word "pleasures" to create an element of sensuality. Likewise, when speaking in iambic tetrameter, the lines shift into a rapid rhyme, creating tension in the poem, as if time is running out. This technique helps cement the presence of carpe diem in the poem. The poet-speaker ends this quatrain by describing the physical setting, speaking in pastoral terms as he introduces “valleys, groves, hills and fields” (3). As pastoral settings, in the Romantic tradition, are often meant to evoke the sublime (or the beautiful, which are not the same thing), here the poet-speaker uses the physical features of the landscape to create a scene of peaceful serenity in which his love could be won. In conjunction with the rhythmic elements of the poem, Marlowe's poet-speaker emphasizes the joy of living in the present moment. Unlike the first quatrain, the shepherd takes a step back in the second by talking about simple pleasures. Promising his love that they "will sit on the rocks, / Seeing the shepherds feeding their flocks, / Near the shallow rivers at whose falls / The melodious birds sing madrigals", the poet-speaker paints an idyllic picture for his mistress (5-8). . This tactic also links the mistress to the serene landscape already described. The poet-speaker's slow speech pattern, emphasized in the enjambment of lines 7 and, elongates the sentences in this section and hides the underlying tension of iambic tetrameter. As the poem progresses, the poet-speaker's assumptions become hyperbolic. The shepherd says to his mistress: “…I will make you beds of roses / And a thousand fragrant bouquets, / A cap of flowers and a tunic / All embroidered with myrtle leaves” (9-12). As the poet-speaker's gifts become stranger, his speech becomes noticeably faster. The comma in line 11 quickens the pace of the poem, giving the impression that the shepherd is quickly reciting a list of various gifts. Although hyperbolic, the fast pace creates the illusion that the gifts are real. Additionally, a feminine rhyme marks the quatrain, creating a lullaby effect for the reader. The speaker continues this list with two more quatrains, elongating some of the gifts, such as "A dress made of the finest wool / That we get from our pretty lambs" in lines 12 and 13, before returning to the reminderfast, as seen with “A belt of straw and ivy buds” (17). The use of “we” and “our” in line 13 illustrates the poet-speaker's future desire that one day he and his love will be together. However, in the nature of carpe diem, the shepherd hopes that he and his lover will be united in the present. The poet-speaker's sumptuous hyperbolic reflections end with a plea for a concrete idea: "come with me and be my love" (20). It is with this line that the poet-speaker comes full circle, the final quatrain resorting to more pastoral fantasies and ending with a repeated “So live with me and be my love” (24). This repetition of his desire mixed with wholesome pastoral imagery allows the poet-speaker to slow the pace of his speech and place greater emphasis on his desires, in the hope that his love will help him rise to the occasion. In contrast, Marvell's poet-orator moves away from Marlowe's future assumptions and hyperboles to a stricter carpe diem approach. Instead of offering his love a multitude of gifts in the future, the speaker gives context to the present situation by saying, "If we had enough people and time, / This shyness, madam, was not a crime” (1-2). Spoken in iambic tetrameter, the poet-speaker penetrates to the heart of the carpe diem mentality by lamenting that, while he would like to give his mistress time to consider his advances, inevitable death is fast approaching. The speaker goes on to create a hypothesis grounded in the present. Marvell's speaker recounts how they "sat and considered which way / to walk" (3-4), using this conditional phrase as a metaphor for his love deciding whether to reciprocate. This choice of words demonstrates consolidation on the part of the speaker, giving the impression of haste. The poet-speaker continues by saying that he would wait for “the conversion of the Jews” (10), a reference to the apocalypse, for her to make up her mind and allow her “vegetable love” to strengthen (11). However, his hyperbole shows that this is impossible, because time is running out. This hyperbolic hypothesis gives way to the true intentions of the poet-speaker. While Marlowe's poet-speaker is subtle with his more erotic intentions, Marvell's open lusts. During the eternity that his mistress meditates on his advances, the poet-speaker speaks of the two hundred years he would spend "adoring each breast, / But thirty thousand for the rest" (15-16). While the poet emphasizes loving each part of his love, the inclusion of her breasts in conjunction with “thy eyes” and “thy brow” (14) shows his predilection for her erogenous parts. The poet moves away from his preoccupation with the physical when he personifies time by saying, “But behind my back I still hear / The winged chariot of time rushing,” bringing his speech back to the present (21-22). Instead of the flowery fantasies with which the poet-speaker begins the poem, he here tells his love about the reality of death. In doing so, the speaker launches into a grotesque sexualized account of what will happen to his love after his death. He declares that “Your beauty will no longer be found, / And in your marble vault will not resound / My echoing song; then the worms will try / This long-preserved virginity, / And your obsolete honor will turn to dust” (25-29). The speaker advances a false carpe diem dichotomy: if I can't take your virginity, it will be left to the worms. This abrupt shift from images of winged chariots and eternal worship to the realities of death is the poet-speaker's way of showing his mistress why they must always live in the present. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized paper now from our While Marlowe's Shepherd.