Marlowe and Raleigh
The two poems written by Raleigh and Marlowe are interesting. Marlowe's poem, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, basically propositions a woman to sleep with a man, where Raleigh's, The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd, responds negatively. Marlowe's poem is a Shepherd asking a nymph for favors. Raleigh responds, saying no. The two poems follow each other closely, and refer to the same subjects. The big difference in the poems is that Marlowe's poem is not realistic, whereas Raleigh's is. The whole poem seems a little shaky and irresponsible. The Nymph really knows about life, and the Shepherd wants a fairy tale. The Shepherd's poem seems to be about material possessions and intangible dreams. The poem states that the Shepherd is willing to give the Nymph a lot of meaningless things, and they will live together forever. Love cannot be based upon material things, especially the trifles that the Shepherd promises. He claims he will give her such things as "beds of roses
Most poetry sounds ridiculous after having read these poems. She is apparently too headstrong to be fooled by such a proposition. The Nymph can see straight through the Shepherd. Although it would be nice, the real world cannot support a love based on flowers and hills. He is approaching the Nymph in the wrong way for true love. Rarely does a person read a poem and complain how far away from real life it is. and a thousand fragrant posies," and "a belt of straw and ivy buds, with coral clasps and amber studs. As with most women, she can see that the Shepherd is merely another man trying to get her into bed. The Shepherd never alludes to any sort of life arrangement, either. The Shepherd seems to be using, if you will, a bad campaign strategy. She also says she would go with him "Had joys no date nor age no need," implying that she would be happy only for a short time. Raleigh's poem is more realistic, responding with an actual real life point of view. " These things are nice, but not the substance needed for love.
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raleigh's poem,
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