Sir Walter Raleigh Was Right Analysis

Three poems were written by different authors, all of them responding to the first poem’s main idea. The poems are called; The “Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh, and “Raleigh was Right” by William Carlos Williams. Throughout the three poems there is a central idea that connects them all together. Love is a theme that is developed and is elaborated on through all three poems. It is important and carries the main points of each poems. Marlowe’s poem is centralized on good love. Raleigh’s contradicts what the first poem has to say, and William’s poem agrees with the second one.

The first poem is about a Shepherd who is promising many things to his “love”. He pledges many things including how he will “make thee beds of roses” (Marlowe, line 17) and how he will give her a “gown made of the finest wool” (Marlowe, line 24). He feels strongly for his “love” (Marlowe, 2) and wants her to be with him. The poem begins with the

statement “come live with me and be / my love” (Marlowe, line ½ ) this begins the overall mood for the poem and states directly how he feels and how the rest of the poem will sound. He is certain on how he feels for her, he wants to live with her and love her forever. The idea of love is heavily pushed throughout the poem, and provides a base for the second author to draw upon it.

In the second poem Sir Walter Raleigh contradicts everything that Marlowe has to say in the first poem.

Raleigh is cynical about love and disagrees with what Marlowe has to say about love. In the poem it is stated that “if all the world and love were young/and truth in shepherd's tongue.” (Raleigh, line ½) that the Nymph would come and live with him, but they believe that the shepherd is lying. Also, the Nymph talks about how things won’t always stay the same, she described how “Rocks grow cold” and “Had joys no date, nor age no need”. The lines clearly state that overtime things will change, and so will love. The Nymph is cynical about love stating that the shepherd has “A honey tongue, a heart of gall,”. A honey tongue means they are “sweet talking”, the Nymph also describes the Shepherd having a heart of gall. This means having a heart of bitterness. Overall the Nymph doesn’t believe what the Shepherd is promising and all in all rejects all of the Shepherd’s

pleas.

The finally poem written by William Carlos Williams blatantly agrees with Raleigh's poem, the title being “Raleigh was Right”. Throughout this poem many keywords and phrases allude to how Williams felt about love. Directly quoting the poem “Love itself a flower /
with roots in a parched ground”, (line 14/15) this means a flower “love” cannot grow or thrive in a parched ground as it would become parched and die. More on how love develops, it is clear on his point of view, during the time this poem was written World War 2 was in its prime. He is clearly referencing his experiences when he states they can’t go into the country “for the country will bring us no peace”, he is also butchering the idea that Marlowe had created with the perfect pastoral world.

The poems all refer to love if different ways. Marlowe’s being an unrealistic love, Raleigh's being practical, and Williams’ being candid. The writers all transformed and turned love into something that becomes a topic that is contentious.