This poem is the romantic wooing of a passionate shepherd
in his efforts to convince a young woman to come join him. This line of the poem is the
shepherd's description of the kinds of clothes the young woman would be able to wear.
The straw would be woven in some attractive way and the ivy buds would be added to make
it all the more becoming. Interestingly though, ivy buds would wither away if they were
picked and woven into a belt. The shepherd then tells her that her clothes would have
coral clasps and amber studs. Both of these materials would be very expensive and very
rare -- and most importantly well beyond the financial reach of a lowly shepherd. Coral
comes from the oceans, and not the oceans near England. Amber is a semi-precious
stone. They would be very beautiful and tempting, but the description is hardly
realistic. The passionate shepherd is making suggestions about how wonderful life would
be if she were with him, but none of the things he has to say are very viable. The work
of shepherd is boring and hard. Shepherds were kind of at the bottom of the social
strata of society in this time period. He suggests that life will be wonderful, but it
would have been quite the opposite.
Friday, July 15, 2011
What does "a belt of straw and ivy buds, with coral clasps and amber studs" mean in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"?
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