Comparing and Contrasting The Passionate Sheppard to His Love and The Nymphs Reply to the Shepphard - Essay Example

Hunter Johnson Dr. Bonds English 1320 March 13, Compare and Contrast Christopher Marlowe’s work ‘’The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’’ and ‘’The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd’’ by Sir Walter Raleigh are poems worth comparing with multiple measures though both serve different purposes. Marlowe presents his work as persuasive proposal in a realistic, humorous way while Raleigh submits his work as a response to Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. However, close analysis of the two poems reveals similar arrangement of the poetic structure and form.

For example, Marlowe is trying to persuade a woman to love the shepherd while Raleigh reply to Marlowe’s shepherd character by putting down all the offers made by using the exact words and phrases as Marlowe uses. In addition, Marlowe uses a sense of softness, hopeful and romantic tone in comprehending his message while Raleigh uses nonromantic, gently sarcastic and dismissal tone by imitating the shepherd’s phrases directly. In reference to Marlowe’s poem, the shepherd tries to persuade the women to have sex with him as he offers her with kirtle all embroidered with leaves of myrtle serving a sexual purpose of attractiveness or flower of love for that proposal (11-12).

Marlowe uses the shepherd narration to explore the joys of nature of woman in idealistic and pleasurable love. In contrast, Raleigh applies the woman as the speaker in answering the shepherd’s proposal to reflect the changing time of various things and a disapproval notion of an idyllic world to the shepherd’s proposal. The shepherd wanted the woman to wear the kirtle so that he could see her body in a sexual way, but rather hiding the actual purpose of the gown thereby emerging as terribly optimistic character while the woman in the Raleigh’s poem appeared pessimistic about the affectionate of the real love (line 11-12).

Similarly, the proposal suggested by the shepherd presents dreams, materialistic goods, and love while the response portrayed by the woman’s response shows reality in action combined with little interest in the materialistic goods and love. However, love existed in both poems but created in a different dramatical manner where the shepherd repetitively refers to the woman he loves as the woman responses vigorously and frequently in rejection to the offer proposed. For example, ‘’thy bed of roses, Soon break, soon forgotten, in season rotten” serving as a justification for the shepherd dismissal (Line 13-16).

Comparatively, there are multiple disparities existing between the two poems, though both poem uses similar words in the nature of tone expressions as well as the poetic purposes presented. However, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love articulate sincere affection by the use of figurative and romantic expression while The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd by Raleigh presents an aggressive and nonromantic expression of the real virtues of love through the proposal rejection. The shepherd speaks with a sense of softness romance to provide a more persuasive effect while the woman presents herself in a gently sarcastic manner by imitating the shepherd phrases putting down all the offers given by the shepherd.

Raleigh says that, “but the youth could last, and love still breed, had no joys no dates” portraying a dismissal tone to the shepherd proposal (21-24). Nevertheless, both poem are directly related to each the fact that one is a proposal; “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’’ while the other is a response to the original poem “The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd.” Everything that the shepherd offered to the woman was materialistic while the replies gotten in response was a rejection portraying that all the proposed things eventually comes to end demanding an everlasting love but not a temporary one from the shepherd.

In addition, the woman rejected the shepherd offers to have sex with her as there was no intimate relationship or either could the proposed material last forever. Lastly, both poem mention same images and exact words. However, ’The Nymph’’ emerged with a strong stance for herself that made the shepherd appear stupid trying to make tricks on her into having sex.