Introduction 2 Life and literary career Christopher Marlowe’s 4

The Morning Star

Critics and scholars through the centuries have lavished praise on the dramatic brilliance and poetic genius of one, who like Shakespeare, began life in humble circumstances, but who achieved undying fame in a very few years. Perhaps most memorably, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote of Marlowe in the nineteenth century: “If Shakespeare is the dazzling sun of this mighty period, Marlowe is certainly the morning star”6. Critic and scholar Edward Dowden similarly opined that “if Marlowe had lived longer and accomplished the work that lay clearly before him, he would have stood beside Shakespeare.”Marlowe has been honoured among poets and playwrights as the real founder of English drama, and the perfecter of dramatic blank verse. Poet and critic Algernon Charles Swinburne thought Marlowe without compare here. “Of English blank verse, one of the few highest forms of verbal harmony, or poetic expression, Marlowe was the absolute and divine creator.”Marlowe was loved and honoured by his contemporaries for his love poetry, and his translations of Lucan and Ovid. Without Marlowe as guide and leader, Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan poets and dramatists would certainly not have achieved the reputation they enjoy today.
Read more about the life and times of Christopher Marlowe, and his work. Also find out about the contemporary portrait found at Cambridge and believed to be of Marlowe, and the eventful history of his Memorial in Canterbury.Peter Farey’s Marlowe Site has modern spelling versions of all Marlowe’s works, which can be downloaded as single files. He also provides a biography, a documentary chronology, and transcripts of documents relating to Marlowe. There are also many very well-researched essays on a range of Marlowe-related topics. Christopher Marlowe’s Style and Popular PoemsMarlowe was a real source of guidance for Shakespeare for writing great plays in blank verse. His works contained music that was in harmony with Milton’s works. His blank verse was metrically precise, regular, and contained imagery not introduced in English poetry at that time. He also introduced genuine blank verse and tragedy in literature and paved the way for Shakespeare to follow.Critics considered Marlowe to be the father of English tragedy and blank verse. It is said that his works contained the true spirit of Elizabethan era. His most popular poems are “Hero and Leander,” “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” and “Elegies.” Come Live With MeSummary: A fascinating study by Jessica Sparks of Marlowe’s poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, with sections on manuscripts and printing, Marlowe, the poem, its printing as a broadside ballad, the tune, and references & responses to the poem. Plus a fascinating interactive Timeline (1591-2015) with renditions.Marlowe at Luminarium Summary: The excellent Luminarium Anthology of English Literature site provides a comprehensive portal of articles, quotes, links and images for every notable English author, including Marlowe. Swinburne’s 1910 essay on Marlowe is reproduced in the biography slot. Plus an extensive list of books on Marlowe. Marlowe’s Last BowSummary: A newly published pamphlet by Trevor Fisher examines the records discovered by Hotson in 1925 and considers the subsequent views & controversies that have arisen about Marlowe’s death in the context of Elizabethan politics & with particular reference to the flaws in the official account identified by Eugenie de Kalb.Carpe Diem in Christopher Marlowe´s The Passionate Shephard to His Love and Rober Herrick´s To the Virgins, Make Much of Time Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, Make Much of Time” share the same common theme of Carpe Diem. They also have many differences such as the tone, and the type of poem. Marlowe’s is more of a romantic poem, a Shepherd expressing his love to a woman. Herrick’s is more of a preachy poem, the poet is telling these young virgins that they need to hurry up and get married because they do not have much time. Both Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and Herrick’s “To the Virgins, Make Much of Time” Share the same common theme; Carpe Diem. Carpe Diem means seize the day. In both poems, the poets express that they have a short amount of time and that they need to live life…show more content…
“And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals” (Marlowe)
Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, Make Much of Time” is considered to be a preachy type of poem. The poet is telling young virgins that they need to hurry up and get married because they do not have much time. “Then be not coy, but use your time, and while ye may, go marry” (Herrick) The Tone of this poem is didactic, he is expressing his opinion.
He is telling these young unmarried women to hurry up and get married, and stop wasting time. “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may: Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying” (Herrick) The Rhyme Scheme for “To the Virgins, Make Much of Time” is the first and third of each stanza rhymes while the second and the fourth line rhyme. “The glorious lamp of heaven, the Sun, The higher he's a-getting, the sooner will his race be run, and nearer he's to setting” (Herrick) Do you live for today, or worry about tomorrow? If you live for today you follow the ideals of Carpe Diem, which is defined as seize the day. Many people and lifestyles follow these ideals and, they do not worry about tomorrow. In The Passionate Shepherd, Marlowe shows seizing the day by thinking of everything beautifully. To him nothing seems bad or negative. The shepherd wants to live his life to fullest with his love forever. He sees life as perfect, and wants to give his love every luxury that she could want.[⁹]

"Come live with me, and be my love,.

And we will all the pleasures prove.
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,.
Woods or steepy mountains yields." (Marlowe, p. 233).

He wants to live with her in the woods, and enjoy all that nature offers. "A belt of straw and ivy buds, with coral clasps and amber studs." (Marlowe, p. 233) He is telling his love that she will have every material possession that she could ever dream of, if she comes with him. .

"The shepherd swains shall dance and sing,.
For thy delight each May morning.
If these delights thy mind may move,.
Than live with me, and be my love." (Marlowe, p. 233).

He leaves his love to decide what she will do, and waits for her to come and join him, living in the woods The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd is the opposite of Carpe Diem, because the Nymph tells that things are not always beautiful. She brings it to attention that winter will come, things will die, and the shepherd's perfect plan doesn't always stand true.

"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 by thy love." (Raleigh, p. 235).

She tells the shepherd, if everything were beautiful, and I knew that you weren't lying to me, and I could really expect all the pleasures in the world, Iwould come live with you and be your love. The Nymph knows that the shepherd cannot offer everything that he says he can.