The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe is a love story. The poem is about a proposal a shepherd makes to his girl lover and contains the theme of love. The shepherd woos his lover by offering her and idealistic life in the countryside surrounded by nature. People who are in love buy gifts or make gifts for their lover and the shepherd is no different. The shepherd starts out by offering her a scenic life full of “Shallow rivers” and “Melodious Birds”. His promises to his lover are obtainable at first when he offers “thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant poises” but they start to become unrealistic when he begins to offer “buckles of the purest gold”. It is extremely unlikely that a shepherd, someone of a poor economic standing, has the resources to offer gold. As the theme of love progresses throughout the poem the shepherd seems to become more desperate as he offers things outside of his control realm as he promises “shepherd swains shall dance and sing”. Finally as the poem closes he promises that all of these extravagant things will happen if she lives in the countryside with him.

The theme of The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is created through Christopher Marlowe’s use of imagery. The imagery that Marlowe employs appeals to the readers smell, hearing, and touch. The imagery appeals to smell because the reader is able to get a sense of what the countryside smells life when “a thousand fragrant poises” is stated. The shepherd gives a sense of peacefulness when he appeals to the reader’s sense of hearing when the promise of “Melodious birds sing madrigals” is stated. Finally the sense of touch is appealed to when “a gown made of the finest wool” is promised. Appealing to the readers sense of smell, hearing, and touch all go together to form a theme of love.

The theme of love in The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a theme that is shared by many other sonnets during this time period. All of Shakespeare’s sonnets contain the theme of love. Like Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love contains unrealistic expectations that almost certainly can’t be met. The sonnets of this time period show the romanticist attitude of other sonnets during this time period through the use of nature. This sonnets theme of love is different from other sonnets of the time period because it only talks about obtaining love, it does not mention the responsibilities of love or the process of preserving love.