The poems “The Passionate Sheppard to His Love” written by Christopher Marlowe and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Sheppard” written by Sir Walter Raleigh are two contrasting poems.
Everything about these poems is the opposite. “Sheppard to His Love” is very pro love and love will last forever. Meanwhile, “The Nymph’s Reply” is very much that love doesn’t last forever. This essay will compare essays theme, imagery and diction to prove that the essays are total opposites.The themes of these are the most important piece of information in proving that the essays are opposites.
The themes of the “ Sheppard to His Love” are as follows: Nature is a perfect place and will provide for all your needs; Love is the only thing that you truly need to be satisfied and complete; and love is sufficient , man needs nothing but love to survive. The themes of the “Nymphs Reply to the Sheppard” are as follows: Love doesn’t last, Love is insufficient, and nature to has its rough spots so can’t provide you with everything. So as you can see these poems themes prove that they are opposites. One is pro love and that love will last forever and the other is against love because it doesn’t last forever.Another aspect to being able to see the difference in these two poems is the imagery that is used by the different poets.
In the poem “Nymphs Reply to the Sheppard” she uses the words “ in folly ripe is reason rotten” . By this she means that in a fools eye the fruit is ripe but in the wise eye it is rotten. The imagery used in this poem is very negative. But in the “Sheppard to His Love” it is very positive giving the theme that if you love nature it will nurture you. As you can see there is a contrasting difference in the imagery used in the poems.The third aspect of showing how they are opposite is how each poem uses diction.
In the both poems the poets use the word shallow but with opposite meanings. In the “Sheppard to His Love” Marlowe uses the word shallow to describe the river. What he meant by that was safety. Nature in this poem nurtures those who love therefore making the river a place of safety and tranquility. In the “Nymph’s Reply to the Sheppard” Raleigh describes the river as ragging therefore stating that nature doesn’t nurture those who love and them too get angry.
So as you can see even the diction is opposite in the poems.These two poems are complete opposites. Between the themes being one pro love and one against. Also the different use of imagery in each poem. As well as the different diction in each poem. This essay definitely proves that poems “The Passionate Sheppard to His Love” written by Christopher Marlowe and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Sheppard” written by Sir Walter Raleigh are two contrasting poems.
