Since poetry of the English Renaissance was not reviewed, the best way to understand the impact of Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is to consider its place within Marlowe's body of work, its place within the literary canon, and its influence on other poets. Translating Latin texts to English was a common pastime for Elizabethan poets, and Marlowe is credited with several translations, including The First Book of Lucan (c. 1582) and Ovid's Amores (c. 1582). Marlowe also wrote seven plays, but his published poems number far fewer. In addition to "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," he wrote a longer poem, "Hero and Leander" (unfinished at the time of his death), and two shorter poems, "Dedicatory Epistle to Mary, the Countess of Pembroke" and "Epitaph on Sir Roger Manwood." Of Marlowe's shorter poems, only "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" has received widespread study.

Anthologies...