Theme 5: Creative works of Christophe Marlowe Plan

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And, while ye may, go marry;
For, having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.

John Milton, a Puritan, the 17th century poet, also wrote on the carpe diem theme, but he followed another approach. In the sonnet “On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three” he frets over not having accomplished anything important by that point in his life, but he ends by placing his faith in heaven.

The concern with time that is major aspect of the carpe diem theme continues to appear in literature through the years up to the present.
Key Words and Expressions:
Aspect, Conqueror, Dramatist, Faith, Pastoral, Personality, Philosophy, Stanzas, Tragedy, Transiency, Youth
Questions and Tasks
1. Who were the foremost poets of the later period of the English Re-naissance?
2. What works by Sir Philip Sidney do you know and what are they about?
3. Why is Edmund Spenser called “the prince of poets “?
4. Do you know why Christopher Marlowe died so young?
6. What kind of heroes Christopher Marlowe portrayed in his tragedies?
6. Speak about “Carpe diem poetry”.
7. Recite any Carpe diem poem you know by heart and define its idea.
8. Who is the author of the best English satirical comedies?
9. What contribution did Ben Jonson make to English literature?
10. What English writers can be listed as the followers of Ben Jonson?