This Lesson's Title:

Come Hither,
Stay Away

Using classic poetry to foster idea development and word choice in two parts

This lesson was created by Northern Nevada teacher Matt Fockler.

This on-line writing prompt is based on the poetry of Christopher Marlowe. Before writing to this assignment, students should hear and discuss the poetry of this great poet.

Click here to learn more about this poet.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Pre-step…before sharing the published model:   Before discussing the two poems, it is helpful to discuss some information on Marlowe and Raleigh. Marlowe was incredibly popular in early Elizabethan England. Born the son of a shoemaker, Marlowe attended college on scholarship and gained much public renown with his plays Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus. He had a bawdy reputation as a drinker and a gambler and many thought that he was even a spy. Tales (perhaps exaggerated) of his death in a bar fight granted Marlowe an infamous immortality. Later scholars have even speculated that Marlowe penned some of William Shakespeare’s works. Teachers could show clips from Shakespeare in Love to support the popularity of Marlowe.

Conversely, little is known of Sir Walter Raleigh’s early life. What is known is that he rose rapidly in Queen Elizabeth’s court and was knighted in 1585. Scholars speculate that Raleigh despised Marlowe’s popularity among the commoners of London and he sought to demean Marlowe and lower his status.

Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love was written as a seduction, and was probably widely read. Raleigh’s The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd is a direct reply to Marlowe’s shepherd.

Step one…sharing the published model:    Share copies of the two poems. Before reading the two poems, have a discussion on rhyme scheme and stanza. A further extension could be a discussion on meter.

• The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlow
• The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh

Discuss the idea of seduction poems. I find it fun to show the clip In Dead Poet’s Society, where Robin Williams stated that the true need for language was not to communicate; it was to “woo women.” No one understood that better than did Christopher Marlowe. Marlowe’s poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is a classic example of the “Come Hither” or seduction poem, where the shepherd uses outlandish promises to seduce a young woman to be his love. In response to The Passionate Shepherd, Sir Walter Raleigh, a contemporary of Marlowe’s, crafted a shut-down poem to highlight the illogical promises that so many young men make to woo young women.

Step two (introducing models of writing):  In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson.  You might prompt your students to talk about each model's word choice as well as word choice is so important to the seduction and shut-down portion of these poems.

• We're looking for student samples for most grade levels for this prompt!  Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom!  Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.

Step three (thinking and pre-writing): Pair students up. Pass out the graphic organizers. Though word choice is the support trait for this assignment, it is important to have students focus on the word choice that Marlowe and Raleigh use in their poems. Have them write down particularly good words or phrases from the poems, ones that show the seduction and the refusal. Talk with the class about how Raleigh used Marlow’s “logic” to ultimately reject him.

Then, as a class or separately (I find in more fun to do this as a class) brainstorm possibilities for seduction / rejection.

If you need help, or examples, please make use of the interactive button game on the student instructions page. Ultimately, have each pair come up with a seduction / rejection that they wish to work with. Then, direct the groups to generate and develop ideas that would fit with the seduction. Ask them, “What does this particular seductor want? What would he/she/it say to get what he/she/it wants?"

Once students have generated that list, guide them back to Raleigh’s poem. Use Raleigh’s poem as a model for utilizing the initial argument in the rejection. Finally, have the students write poems of seduction and rejection. You can allow the students to work on this together, or separately, with each taking one side. I find the best poems come when you allow the students to make that choice.

Step four (revising with specific trait language):   To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts.  Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5."   Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings.  For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes

Step six (publishing for the portfolio):   When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block.  Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here.  Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.

Interested in publishing student work on-line?  We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers.  This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.

Learn more about Christopher Marlowe by clicking here. Learn more about Sir Walter Raleigh by clicking here.