According to the shepherd, if his love agrees, they will enjoy all the pleasures of nature, including valleys, woods, hills, fields, and mountains. While they are enjoying nature, they will sit on rocks and watch shepherds tending to their sheep, and they will sit by rivers where birds will serenade them. The shepherd will make his beloved a bed of roses, a hat of flowers, and a gown (or "kirtle") sewn with myrtle leaves. The shepherd will also make his lover a gown made of the best wool from his sheep, and he will make his beloved slippers and a gold belt buckle. He will give his lover a belt of straw with decorations made of amber and coral, and they will be serenaded by swains, or young people in the country. The delights that Marlowe describes are pastoral and represent the idyllic aspect of nature.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Comments
Post a Comment