The two poems of “The Passionate Shepherd” and “The Nymph’s Reply” show contrasting views on love, nature, time, and the material world. “The Passionate Shepherd” shows more about a positive and naive view while in contrast, “The Nymph’s Reply” is more about a negative and realistic view. The shepherd gave details that idealized the natural world while the nymph criticized his ideal world. According to the shepherd, love is innocent. In his eyes, nothing will ever change or be unpleasant. When he says "for thy delight each may morning", he describes the joy and satisfaction that he would feel every day if she were there with him. The nymph is more careful and reluctant to go because she knows that the things he offers, will not last forever.
These two poems are written by poets with completely different social statuses. This differing factor leads to two completely different perspectives on the
Toomer’s poems enhanced the moods of wistful and mournful pastoralism that pervades the book. His poems provide transitioning from one narrative to another, incorporating myths and symbols.
“Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims is an excellent of example of an author using many types of literary terms to emphasize his theme of a love that is imperfect yet filled with acceptance. In, this poem Nims uses assonance, metaphor, and imagery to support his theme of “Imperfect, yet realistic love”.
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is one of Christopher Marlowe’s pastoral poem. A pastoral poem deals with the idealistic rather than realistic viewpoint of the life of the country. In the poem, the speaker is trying to convince his love to come and live with him. The setting that gets described here sets the mood of the poem. The sincerity and the eagerness of the speaker can be observed
The use of symbolism and imagery is beautifully orchestrated in a magnificent dance of emotion that is resonated throughout the poem. The two main ideas that are keen to resurface are that of personal growth and freedom. Furthermore, at first glimpse this can be seen as a simple poem about a women’s struggle with her counterpart. However, this meaning can be interpreted more profoundly than just the causality of a bad relationship.
A Comparison of 'The Passionate Shepherd to his Love' and 'The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd'
Debora B. Schwartz in her article, "Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Comedy" highlights the fact that the major themes which are typically discussed in pastoral poetry include: "love and seduction;… the corruption of the city or court vs. the ‘purity’ of idealized country life…" (par. 2). In the poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," the theme of the "'purity' of idealized country life" is explored when the male persona attempts to use words which conjure up images of an paradise which he and his love interest can escape to sexually gratify each other. The male persona entices his love interest to "come live" with him and be his love (l. 1). He desires that he and his lover's "prove" the various "pleasures" that "woods or steepy mountain yields" (ll. 2, 4). This argument is rebuffed by the female persona in the poem, "The Nymph's Reply to Her Husband," when she states the following: "Time drives the flocks from field to fold, /When rivers rage and rocks grow cold" (ll. 5-6). It should be noted that these lines reflect the following lines of Marlowe's poem: "And we will sit upon the rocks, / seeing the shepherds feed their flocks/ by shallow rivers…" (ll. 5-7). The female persona undermines the shepherd's idealization of the countryside and pastoral life since the passage of time, depicted by the seasons, will change the characteristics of these things described so positively by the male persona in Marlowe's poem.
After reading “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, I agree more with the Nymph. One reason is that the Shepherd stretches the truth in many ways, like telling the Nymph that he will make her a bed out of a thousand roses. Also, when the Shepherd tells the Nymph that they can sit by the river and watch the sheep, the Nymph argues that eventually the rivers will rage and time will drive the flocks from “field to fold”. In addition, the Shepherd offers to give the Nymph many luxuries, like gowns and shoes, but the Nymph makes a good point by stating that these things will “soon break, soon wither” and eventually be forgotten. Although the Shepherd offers many pleasures and luxuries to the Nymph, all
Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.
Love makes people become selfish, but it is also makes the world greater. In this poem, the world that the speaker lives and loves is not limited in “my North, my South, my East and West / my working week and my Sunday rest” (9-10), it spreads to “My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song (11). The poem’s imagery dominates most of the third stanza giving readers an image of a peaceful world in which everything is in order. However, the last sentence of the stanza is the decisive element. This element not only destroys the inner world of the speaker, but it also sends out the message that love or life is mortal.
said to her was true she would live with him and be his love. However
She keeps souls in a skull she wears around her neck. Her name is Lorelei, a river nymph who has lurked near the rocks in the Rhine for centuries. You may have heard of her, even. Many a sad song bears her name in the title. She cannot help herself, though. She takes no joy in this grim, grotesque task of hers. It is simply the way of the river nymphs. Quietly, she lounges on a flat rock jutting out from the Rhine. She absentmindedly drums her fingers against the skull's smooth cranium. It belonged to a man, once. His name was Bernard, her first victim. He was a big, bear of a man, and easily as brave. Unfortunately, he was no match for the fateful Lorelei. She sighs lightly. That day passed long ago, when she was still just a young nymph.
Poets use many ways when they want to communicate something using poems. Poems are used as a means of passing ideas, information and expression of feelings. This has made the poets to use the natural things and images that people can relate with so that they can make these poems understandable. The most common forms of writing that are used by the poets are the figurative language for example imagery and metaphors. In addition, the poets use the natural landscape in their attempt to explore the philosophical questions. Therefore, this essay will explore the forms that have been used by the poets in writing poems using the natural landscape. The essay will be based on poems such as ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by
During the romnatic period, poets would mainly send out the message to admire nature and see the beauty in it. We should fine joy in nature and nature should be our teacher. In the poem “composed upon Westminster Bridge”
The Passionate Shepherd To His Love; by Christopher Marlowe and The Nymph’s Reply To The Shepherd by: Sir. Walter Raleigh. The purpose of this writing is to compare and contrast the two speakers point of view in the poem. I will also be discussing the four major themes of the: Passionate Shepherd To His Love and The Nymph's reply To The Shepherd, such as nature, love, material world, and time. I will be using evidence and lines from the two pastoral poems to help support my answers.