Versions

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Ornate cover of the England’s Helicon, 19th-century edition.

Versions: This page is an introduction to the many ways one can compare and analyze the various texts (the 1599 The Passionate Pilgrim, 1600 England’s Helicon, 1619-1629 broadside ballad, and the 1875 Golden Treasury) with online textual analysis programs, and the benefits that come from analyzing these versions of Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.”

Text Analysis:

The poem that we attribute to Marlowe in The Passionate Pilgrim is without title but is referred to by its first line “Live With Me and Be My Love.” This printing only has 4 stanzas and 1 additional “Loves Answer” stanza. The England’s Helicon has six stanzas. Only stanzas I, II, III, and V of The Passionate Pilgrim match stanzas in the England’s Helicon. Modern versions of the poem, those found online and in anthologies, either match the England’s Helicon 6 stanzas or follows the 7 stanzas in Francis Palsgrave’s Golden Treasury.

It is important to note when looking at a text such as this that the printing process used resulted in a number of misspelling and mistakes. The textual analysis software listed below presents you with the same information, but from different angles, to reveal something new about the relationship between the texts.

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A word cloud representing the most popular words, from Voyant

With the program Voyant, you can explore the popularity of certain words within each text or each individually through a generated word cloud. You can also play with graphs that enable you to see the various spellings of words. I have also created a document with all the variations of the original printing in The Passionate Pilgrim noted at the bottom (please note that the parameters of this program count spaces/indents as individual characters, and so the indents have been removed). 

You can scroll and read the three main versions of the ballad (please note this does not include the 1875 Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics by Francis Palsgrave as it is so similar to the broadside ballad text). This is presented so you can see how different each is in length and arrangement of stanzas. 

The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599

Live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
And all the craggy mountains yield.

There will we sit upon the rocks,                         5
And see the Shepherds feed their flock,
By shallow Rivers, by whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

There will I make thee a bed of Roses,
With a thousand fragrant poses,                          10
A cap of flowers, and a Kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle.

A belt of straw and Yuye buds,
With Coral Clasps and amber studs,
And if there pleasures may thee move,               15
Then live with me, and be my Love.

Loves answer.

IF that the World and Love were young
And truth in every shepherds tongue,
There pretty pleasures might me move,
To live with thee and be my Love.                      20

 England’s Helicon, 1600

Come live with me, and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, grooves, hills and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountains yields.

There will we sit upon the Rocks                         5
And see 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,                          10
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:                           15
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.                  20

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.

 Roxburghe Collection, 1619-1629?

Live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Vallies, Groves, Hills, and Fields,
Woods, or steepy Mountaines yeelds:
     That Vallies, Groves, Hills, and Fields,
     Woods, or steepy Mountaines yeelds.

And we will sit upon the Rockes,
Seeing the Shepheards feede their flockes
By shallow Rivers to whose falls,
Melodious Birds sing Madrigals,
     by shallow rivers to who fals, etc.

And I will make thee beds of Roses,
And a thousand fragrant Poses:
A Cap of Flowers and a Kirtle,
Imbrodred all with leaves of Mirtle,
     a Cap of Flowers and a Kirtle, etc.

A Gowne made of the finest Wooll,
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull:
Faire lined Slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest Gold:
     faire lined Slippers for the cold, etc.

Thy silver dishes fild with meate,
As precious as the Gods doe eate,
Shall on an Ivory Table be,
Prepar’d each day for thee and me.
     Shall on an Ivory table be, etc.

The Shepheards swaines shall dance & sing
For thy delight each faire morning:
If these delights thy minde might moove,
To live with me and be my love.
     if these delights, etc,
                                                   FINIS.
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