INSTITUTE OF OPEN EDUCATION AND INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY - HUE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BRITISH LITERATURE

COMPARE THE POEMS “THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS

LOVE” AND “THE NYMPH’S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD”

Instructor : CAM LIEN, MA.

Student: NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH VÂN
Class : BÌNH THUẬN 5
Student’s ID : 7054700176

Bình Thuận, March 2024

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………2
CHAPTER 2: CONTENT………………………………………………………………………3

2.1 The main characters and the plot of the text ……………………………………...................3

2.2 The overall meaning …………………………………………………………………………3

2.3 The feelings, judgment, opinions of the text ………………………………………………...4

CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….7

2
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The essay delves into the interplay between love and nature in English literature,
focusing on Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and Sir
Walter Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." Marlowe presents an idealized
world where love and nature coexist in harmony, offering an optimistic view of eternal
pleasures and unchanging beauty. In contrast, Raleigh introduces a pragmatic
perspective, highlighting the temporal nature of love and beauty against the backdrop of
changing seasons and the inevitability of aging. This juxtaposition serves as a platform to
explore broader themes of optimism versus realism, the human yearning for permanence,
and the acceptance of life's transient reality.

The discourse between the two poems enriches our understanding of love's nature and
life's impermanence, reflecting the Elizabethan era's literary and philosophical
explorations. The analysis extends to stylistic elements such as imagery, tone, and
structure, providing insights into how each poet conveys their message. Concluding with
a personal reflection, the essay emphasizes the importance of acknowledging the real-
world context in which love exists, advocating for a balanced perspective that cherishes
idealistic aspirations while recognizing the constraints of reality. Through this
examination, the essay aims to deepen the appreciation for the enduring dialogue
between the idealistic and the realistic, as encapsulated in the pastoral musings of
Marlowe and Raleigh.

3
 CHAPTER 2: CONTENT

2.1 The main characters and the plot of the text

In "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," is about a shepherd who confesses his love
and begs for his lover to live with him. The theme of this poem is that love conquers all.
The shepherd tells his lover that he will do all these things for her, such as making her a
bed of roses and making her a kirtle, which is a skirt. He also tells his lover that he will
give her all these material things, such as fine slippers and a gown made of the finest
wool. The shepherd bases most of his reasons for his lover to be with him upon material
objects. In "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," the nymph, which is a shepherd's wife,
explains what she fears will happen. The theme in this poem is that love is based on
much more than material objects. She states that she does not believe the shepherd will
always feel this way when she says, "time drives the flock from the field to fold." The
nymph is also weary of the shepherds reliability when she says, "and truth in every
shepherds tongue." The nymph realizes all material things fade, so she questions if they
will both feel the same way after time has changed them.

2.2 The overall meaning

These poems contain different themes and ideas about love. “The Nymph’s Reply to the
Shepherd” is Sir Walter Raleigh’s response to a poem written by Christopher Marlowe,
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” In the Marlowe poem, the shepherd proposes to
his beloved by portraying their ideal future together: a life filled with earthly pleasures in
a world of eternal spring. Raleigh’s reply, however, debunks the shepherd’s fanciful
vision. While Marlowe’s speaker promises nature’s beauty and a litany of gifts, Raleigh’s
nymph responds that such promises could only remain valid “if all the world and love
were young.” Thus, she introduces the concepts of time and change. In her world, the
seasons cause the shepherd’s “shallow rivers” to “rage,” rocks to “grow cold” and roses
to “fade.” The shepherd’s gifts might be desirable, but they too are transient: they “soon
break, soon wither” and are “soon forgotten.” In the end, the nymph acknowledges that
she would accept the shepherd’s offer “could youth last” and “had joys no date.” Like the
shepherd, she longs for such things to be true, but like Raleigh, she is a skeptic, retaining
faith only in reason’s power to discount the “folly” of “fancy’s spring.”

2.3 The feelings, judgment, opinions of the text

In each poem, the authors give their various perspectives about love. The speaker in “The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is urging his beloved, who presumably dwells in an
urban environment, to join him in a life in the countryside. "The Passionate Shepherd to
His Love" is written in the pastoral tradition that originated with Theocritus in Greece
during the third century B.C. The pastoral tradition is characterized by a state of
contentment and of innocent and romantic love. This poem is a celebration of love,
innocence, youth, and poetry. Since the traditional image of shepherds is that they are
innocent and accustomed to living in an idyllic setting, the purpose of such a pastoral
poem is to idealize the harmony, peace, and simplicity of the shepherd’s life. The main
idea of this poem is romantic love mingled with themes such as man, the natural world,
4
and time. In this poem, a shepherd is presented as speaking to his beloved, evoking “all
the pleasures” of the springtime. The speaker is a loving shepherd, who tries to persuade
his beloved to stay with him in the countryside. As it is a pastoral poem, its physical
setting is the countryside, and its temporal setting is the spring season. The title “The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love” refers to the love of a shepherd for his beloved, based
on his romantic ideals of presenting her the beauty of the idyllic world in which he is
living. The poem opens with the popular romantic line, “Come live with me, and be my
love.”

Obviously, he is addressing his beloved. He wants her to come and experience pleasures
as he says, “we will all the pleasures prove.” The shepherd describes the setting in detail:
“That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, / Woods, or steepy mountain yields.” He then
makes a promise to her in the next stanza, saying “we will sit upon the rocks, / seeing the
shepherds feed their flocks.” The lure of the natural setting—of singing birds, nearby
waterfalls, and mountains—is sure to be highly attractive to a beloved. The poem
continues with the shepherd’s future gifts that he will present to his lover: “I will make
thee beds of roses.” The poet has used a word pun in the next phrase “a thousand fragrant
posies” where “posies” has a double meaning: it both refers to poetry as well as a bunch
of flowers in

Renaissance terms. In addition, he has used floral imagery to suggest fertility of the
countryside. Amid this romantic setting, the shepherd says that he would make “a cap of
flowers, and a kirtle” to demonstrate his love, adding further that he would also make a
gown for her “of the finest wool.” The use of a poetic device known as blazon is highly
suggestive here. A blazon is the method through which the speaker praises his beloved,
singling out parts of her body with the help of metaphors. His arguments appeal to the
senses and give feelings of pleasure and love, stating “A belt of straw, and ivy buds, /
with coral clasps and amber studs.” Following this, the shepherd adds sexual overtones to
the stanza by repeating the word “pleasures” in “And if these pleasures may thee move,”
whereas “move” here implies emotions. His last promise is that “The shepherds’ swains
shall dance and sing, / For thy delight each May morning.” This is the final push to coax
his beloved to “live with me and be my love” which is his ultimate objective.

‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’ by Sir Walter Raleigh is filled with pastoral
images that contain a negative response to the shepherd’s plea. Throughout this poem,
the nymph describes how time, pleasure, and all possessions, are fleeting. These joys
won’t last forever, nor will impetuous choices and sweet words. All of these things are
like “spring” to “fall”. They might be beautiful now but when it comes time for the
season to change they are going to fade like everything else. ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the
Shepherd’ by Sir Walter Raleigh is a six stanza poem that is separated into sets of four
lines. These lines follow a rhyme scheme of AABB CCDD, and so on, changing end

sounds from stanza to stanza. Raleigh made use of iambic tetrameter when it came to the
metrical pattern. This means that each line is made up of four sets of two beats. The first
of these is unstressed and the second is stressed. He also avoids using enjambment,
preferring to end the lines with end-punctuation. Raleigh makes use of several literary
devices in ‘The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd’. These include but are not limited to
caesura, alliteration, and simile. The latter, a metaphor, is a comparison between two,
5
unlike things that do not use “like” or “as” is also present in the text. When using this
technique, a poet is saying that one thing is another thing, they aren’t just similar. There
is a good example at the end of stanza three with the phrase “A honey tongue, a heart of
gall, /

Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall”. Here, the speaker is comparing sweet, yet, at the
end, meaningless, words, and impetuous choices to “spring” and “fall”.

6
 CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION

In this comparative analysis of "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher

Marlowe and "The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh, several key
findings have emerged. Marlowe's poem presents an idealized vision of love and nature,
characterized by romantic imagery and pastoral beauty. In contrast, Raleigh's response
offers a skeptical perspective, challenging Marlowe's idealism and confronting the
transient nature of human desires. Through their contrasting viewpoints, the poems
engage in a dialogue that explores the complexities of love, nature, and human
experience.

The dialogue between "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and "The Nymph’s Reply
to the Shepherd" is of paramount importance in understanding the nuances of Elizabethan
poetry and its thematic contrasts. Marlowe and Raleigh engage in a literary conversation
that highlights the tension between idealism and realism, optimism and skepticism. This
dialogue invites readers to ponder the complexities of human emotion and the fleeting
nature of earthly pleasures, enriching our understanding of the human condition.

Despite being written centuries ago, both poems continue to resonate with readers today,
speaking to universal truths about love, nature, and the human experience. Marlowe and
Raleigh's masterful use of language and imagery transcends the constraints of time,
offering insights into the enduring mysteries of existence. Their contributions to English
literature are profound, shaping the literary landscape for generations to come. As readers
engage with these timeless works, they are reminded of the eternal dance between
idealism and realism, and the beauty that lies in embracing life's complexities.

In conclusion, the dialogue between "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" and "The
Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd" stands as a testament to the enduring power of poetry to
illuminate the human soul and enrich our understanding of the world around us.