Pastoral Landscape

The pastoral landscape, present in many early modern English poems, features heavily in Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." In this poem, the speaker imagines running away with his beloved to an idyllic world of hills, valleys, natural wonders, and shepherds. In the pastoral tradition, popularized by the Roman poet Virgil, shepherds are frequently metaphors for poets. Marlowe's poem therefore presents an ideal image of life as a poet of courtly love. "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" is both a seduction poem and a celebration of the pastoral and Petrarchan modes, both of which were popular forms at the height of Marlowe's career.

Seascape/The Water

Donne responds to Marlowe's idyllic landscape by setting his poem near the sea, moving away from a pastoral mode and into a piscatory one. This setting is significant because it represents Donne's break with the pastoral mode and therefore...