Daily Poetry Newsletter
Poetry Newsletter 1-4-06
Welcome to the Poetry Newsletter, a place for poets and poetry lovers to read, learn, and be inspired.
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
Winston Churchill
*****Advertisement
Check Out These 300
Creative & Romantic Date Ideas
*****
Daily Poetry
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
By Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.
The shepherds’ swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
Yesterday we talked about how a simile is a device that uses the words “like” or “as” to compare to unlike things. Today, we look at analogy. The poem above may not immediately appear to be an example of analogy at work. But read closer.
An analogy is a similarity between to things that are different. But unlike a simile, an analogy may be longer and does not require the use of “like” or “as.”
Marlowe’s poem above is a subtle analogy. He is comparing the effect of being in love and living with the one he loves to the gifts and joys of nature. By creating in the reader’s mind all the beauty of natural living, including the smell of flowers, the warmth of sun, and the peacefulness of rest, the poet gives you an idea of what it is like to be in love. He creates an analogy between two things.
One aspect to analogy is that it also implies that if two things are alike in one aspect, they are probably alike in others.
**Refer a friend to Poetry Newsletter**
Poetry Lesson
Analogy is an agreement or similarity in some particulars between things otherwise different.
Example: Sleep and death are analogous because they both share the qualities of a recumbent posture and the lack of animation.