Language

The poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe uses old-fashioned language which is typical of the period when the poem was published. For example, the poem uses the old forms “thee”  and “thy”  when referring to the lover, and the archaic word “swain” to refer to young boys living in the countryside. 

The language in the poem includes many words which describe nature or natural elements. Some of these include vocabulary related to plants such as “Roses” (l. 9), “posies” (l. 10), “leaves of Myrtle” (l. 12), or “Ivy buds” (l. 17). Others refer to different geographical features such as “Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,” (l. 3), “woods” and mountains (l. 5), “Rocks” (l. 5), or “Rivers” (l. 7). These all help the speaker to describe the peaceful and idylli...