The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Tough-o-Meter

(3) Base Camp

There are lots of things that make this poem a walk in the park: it's relatively short, the meter is regular, the phrasing is simple, and there aren't lots of fancy allusions, obscure metaphors, or complicated poetic devices to unravel. But the challenge of this poem is not being duped by its apparent simplicity. Underneath all that pretty language there is some pretty serious stuff going on, and we think it's worth a little extra legwork.