Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Two Songs: 2" by Cecil Day Lewis presents a starkly realistic, if not cynical, inversion of the pastoral and romantic tradition epitomized by Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." Day Lewis's poem mimics the structure and meter of Marlowe's work but substitutes the idealized promises of love and leisure with the harsh realities of life, particularly those related to economic hardship and the ensuing physical toll.

The opening invitation, "Come, live with me and be my love," directly echoes Marlowe's famous line, setting up an expectation of a romantic pastoral idyll. However, Day Lewis quickly subverts this expectation by offering not the pleasures of the countryside but the "pleasures" that "chance employment may afford," immediately grounding the poem in the realities of working-class life.

The poet promises "peace and plenty, bed and board," but these are to be found in the unpredictable opportunities of dock work and the simple, perhaps scant, comforts of home life. The mention of handling "dainties on the docks" while the partner reads "of summer frocks" juxtaposes the gritty reality of labor with the escapism offered by literature and dreams.

Evening walks "by the sour canals" hoping to hear "some madrigals" further underscores the contrast between the dream of a romantic, cultured life and the less appealing surroundings that the couple can actually afford. The industrial landscape and its canals stand in stark contrast to the pastoral settings traditionally associated with love and harmony.

The second half of the poem darkens further as Day Lewis foretells a future where hardship physically marks the loved one: "Care on thy maiden brow shall put / A wreath of wrinkles, and thy foot / Be shod with pain." This imagery suggests that the struggles of life, rather than the leisure of love, will define their existence together.

The final stanzas depict a life where "Hunger shall make thy modest zone" and reduce the body "to all but bone," a chilling prediction that strips away any remaining illusion of the pastoral idyll. The repeated invitation, "If these delights thy mind may move, / Then live with me and be my love," becomes deeply ironic, inviting the beloved not to a life of pleasure but to a shared struggle against the adversities of life.

Through "Two Songs: 2," Day Lewis offers a poignant commentary on the idealization of love and the pastoral, confronting the reader with the often harsh economic realities that underpin human existence. The poem serves as a reminder that love, while a source of joy and comfort, does not exist apart from the material conditions of life, challenging us to reconsider the nature of true commitment and partnership.

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