Comparison Between The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and The Nymph's Reply to Essay

The pastoral poems " The passionate shepherd to his love" by Christopher Marlowe and The Nymphs reply to the shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh have many similarities such as the are both pastoral poems and they also have many differences such as in Christopher Marlowes poem the shepherd is trying to persuade a woman by telling her of all the great things he can provide/ give to her on the other hand as in Sir Walter Raleigh poem the nymph uses the same techniques and similar diction to reject the shepherd.

First of all some of the most noticeable similarities in both the passionate shepherd to his love and the nymphs reply to the shepherd are that they both rely heavily on imagery to get the reader to understand the meaning and tone of the poem for example in the passionate shepherd to his love the imagery seeing shepherd feed there flock and by shallow rivers to whose falls melodious bird sing madrigals. The reader understands that the shepherd is trying to seduce a woman to come be with him. Not only does the imagery make the reader think about what the shepherd is trying to do but he images the shepherd and the nymph sitting on the rock above the river and can imagine the sound of the river and the fell of the smooth rocks beneath them. The poem by Sir Walter Raleigh also relies heavily on imagery to help the reader understand why the nymph replys to the shepherd the way she does. For example the when rivers rage and rocks grow cold, the flowers do fade help the reader understand that she is rejecting the shepherd and that the imagery from the nymphs reply to the shepherd is a 360 degree turn from the imagery in the passionate shepherd to his love. They also both use exaggeration for example in Christopher Marlowe poem the shepherd says I will make thee a bed of roses and a thousand fragrant posies this is an exaggeration because he really is not going to make her a bed of roses nor is he going to count out exactly a thousand posies. In Sir Walter Raleighs poem the nymph exaggerates the things it would take to get her to say yes she would be his love for example she say but could youth last and love still breed had joys no date nor age no need then these delights my mind might move to live with thee and be thy love. Sir Walter Raleighs uses exaggeration to make the shepherd know he is being rejected and telling him what the circumstances would be for the nymph to be his love.

Secondly there are not only many similarities but there are also many differences between the poems the passionate shepherd to his love and the nymphs reply to the shepherd. First of all the tones of the poems are one major difference the poem the passionate shepherd to his love has an optimistic tone because the shepherd believes that he can convince her to be his love where as the poem the nymphs reply to the shepherd has a realistic tone because she knows that the shepherd could not full fill all his promises that he makes to her but she doesnt stop their she tells him what conditions to which she would be his love but they are not able to be achieve and that is why this poem has a realistic tone because she let him know that she will not be his love because he could definitely not full fill these conditions. Another difference between these two poems is that the poem the passionate shepherd to his love is a persuasive poem because the shepherd is trying to get the nymph to be his love where as the nymphs reply to the shepherd is more informative because she tells him she cannot and will not be his love.

In conclusion the poems " The passionate shepherd to his love" by Christopher Marlowe and The Nymphs reply to the shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh have many similarities and differences that help the reader understand the meaning of the poem and also helps the reader understand the tone more clearly with the use of imagery and exageration.