Comparing and Contrasting "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and "The Nymph's Reply": Love is Eternal and Humble, Not Temporary and Materialistic

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Love throughout the years has been interpreted as an intense interpersonal attraction ("I love my partner"). Love can also refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love, to the emotional closeness of familial love, or to the platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound union or devotion of religious love. Love had been defined by individuals to get close to someone who have actual feelings for or deeply care about, and one that you will actually risk your life for. But now, love has been given a bad reputation because now some people are only interested in having non-intimate sex with others. People prefer temporary relationships, instead of dedicating their lives to their loved ones. These types of individuals like to promise things they cannot afford and can use deception to seduce others by promising to give them outlandish, expensive materials. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” are perfect examples of different views of love. These poems have similar structures, but the two speakers have different points of view about love and reality.

To begin with, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is a pastoral poem written by Christopher Marlowe in the late sixteenth century. Pastoral is a term that comes from the Latin word for shepherd: pastor. The pastoral poem is one that deals with shepherds and rustic life. This poem was set in a shepherd's field or dwelling. The only information that we have about the speaker is that he is a shepherd and thinks romantically and idealistically. Marlowe does not focus much on the setting or character, but more on the argument that the shepherd is trying to make to the girl. The prominent theme of this poem is of id...

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...of the shepherd's pleas seem much more believable.

These two poems can teach a lesson even in the present day. The idealistic world that the shepherd had dreamed seemed to be a magnificent thing, but he had no solid evidence to back it up. There are many instances of this life, not just in love. The young nymph had to realize that the things he was offering, though tempting, were not what she wished for in life. She knew that because time is short and life does not last forever, that one must think about the impact decisions made today will have on the future.

Works Cited

Marlowe, Christopher. ""The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." Raleigh, Walter. "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." Literature & The Writing Process. By Susan X. Day, Elizabeth McMahan, Robert Funk, and Linda Coleman. 9th ed. New York, New York: Longman, 2010-2011. 667-69. Print.

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