The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph’s Reply to the

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph’s Reply to the

Shepherd: A comparison

‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ was written by Christopher

Marlowe. The poem describes a shepherd’s plea to someone he loves

urging them to live with him.

Marlowe uses imagery to describe the scenery around the shepherd and

his love. The shepherd tries to convince her how happy they will be,

surrounded by “mountain yields” and “groves” in stanza one.

Marlowe does not only use imagery in his poem but he also describes

the aroma

‘And a thousand fragrant posies.’

He creates a tranquil atmosphere by describing the harmonious sound in

the second and third stanzas.

‘Melodious birds sing madrigals.’

In the third stanza the shepherd tells his love that he will give her

anything she wants if she lives with him. The shepherd names beautiful

clothes in an attempt to persuade her,

‘Fair lined slippers for the cold,

With buckles of the purest gold.’

In the fourth stanza the shepherd believes that he has succeeded in

convincing his love to live with him. He describes what he believes to

be a vision of their future, pulling wool from pretty lambs together

conveying a sense of unity.

The beginning of stanza five is realistic as the shepherd offers to

give his love ‘a belt of straw and ivy buds’. However towards the end

of the stanza he says that he will give her ‘coral clasps and amber

studs’ which is completely unrealistic as he is a shepherd who would

not be able to afford such gifts. In the shepherd’s desperation, he

resorts to materialism as he believes this is the only way his love

will be returned.

The second poem ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’ written by Sir

Walter Ralegh is the reply t...

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...s beautiful scenery and clothes as a method of

persuasion, whilst ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’ tries to

express a sense of realism to the shepherd informing him that things

do change like spring to autumn and youth to old age.

In my opinion ‘The Passionate Shepherd to His Love’ does deserve a

reply. After reading the poem the reader assumes that ‘his love’ will

go and live with him as he offers her everything she may want. It is

quite unpredictable that she would refuse this offer and so the reply

gives the story a conclusion. Even though the reader feels empathy for

the shepherd as he is prepared to do anything for the nymph, we

appreciate the nymph’s point of view that nothing will stay the same

forever.

Although the poems are both structurally similar, they express

contrasting sentiments, a contrast which I feel makes these poems a

success.