I intend to discuss the concept if the love poem first. Marlowe paints a picture of the romantic dream of love. The scene is pastoral and idyllic, of the simple shepherd surrounded by his sheep in a beautiful rural paradise. The weather is usually perfect, but when it is not, there is the cave and the warm fire.
“The shepherd swains shall dance and sing, For thy delight each may morning”
This, Marlowe implies, is the perfect environment of love. It is an environment where love will neither change nor end, but remain pristine and perfect. The poem is the language of love, the moment leading to seduction, but it is not the language of realism. I belive that when Marlowe was writing the poem he new that the what is was writing was improbable fantasy but his is not the object of the poem to be real, just to seduce his “love”. So he writies about every Elizabethans dream and makes it better yet by inculdng all the riches of a wealthy persons life.
“Fair lined slippers for the cold, with buckles of the purest gold”
The other, and perhaps more complex, interpretation of the poem, reflects a response to the life Marlowe has lived so far and his reaction to it The poem is written as a love poem but if you look more deeply is more complicated. The idyll the Elizabethan court dreamed of was that of “the simple life”, as such. The romanticised concept of the shepherd epitomises this, living in the cycle of the seasons, particularly spring, a season of rebirth, vitality and virility. This is in direct contrast to the life which historical evidence suggests that Marlowe led and is, perhaps, a poem and a dream, and an escape from reality.
The Nymphs Reply to the Shepard tells how love will not and cannot last if based on false and unrealistic romanticism. Raleigh takes the opposite view to the one expressed by Marlowe, although it is likely that the opinion that Marlowe states is not his true one. Instead one that he thinks would impress and woo his “love”. Raleigh sates quite clearly that idealism is a false premise to base love on and that life and love should be seen in realistic context. Marlowe appears to belvie in romanasisum, Raleigh belives this to be an ideaisic, narrow minded, naivety. He shows this by writing a mimic to Marlowe poem.
The first stanza tells us that if the world was not affected by the passage of time, the promise of pastoral love might be achievable but as the world is subject to the passage of time the promises are empty and unobtainable. The object of the poem’s promises, Raleigh suggests, realises that the promises are unattainable and she is unimpressed.
The Nymph is a pragmatic, but arguably realistic, view of love in contrast to the idealistic and simple view. Throughout the poem one main point that is discussed is that love cannot be based on idealistic fancies or fickle nature.
Within the poem imagery is used to portray powerful feelings not of love but a strong feeling about love. In the Second stanza the line is used to convey the passage of time.
“The rest complains of cares to come”
The “rest” means spring where everything is in bloom and growing the season of reproduction, food is not scarce But the worry will soon return in winter. This is a direct response to how Marlowe portrays live:
“All the pleasures prove……….steepy mountain yields.”
he only talks about life in the context of spring. This is not a realistic portrayal of live which is the comment that Raleigh makes throughout. The affect that the seasons have on life cannot be changed nor can the seasons stop or be changed.
As in any poem endless description cannot be used, Marlowe used personification instead:
“Melodious birds sing madrigals”
Raleigh wanted to offer a an alternative to the view of iife and love that Marlowe presents in his poem. He uses the same rhythm and rhyme scheme in parallel with Marlowe’s poem to enhance the different approaches to love and the life in his poem..
The layout of the two poems may run parallel but the imagery used by the two poets is starkly contrasting. Raleigh’s “Rivers Rage“, and the turmoil of a river in spate is both fierce, but also brief, again reflecting brief passion and the process of change and the passage of time, whereas Marlowe writes about repose “By shallow rivers” a peaceful and tranquil image. The same river is used by Raleigh to challenge Marlowe to show that the same object can have a different effect depending on the way it is presented.,
It also is an image of time. Perhaps, just as the torrent will inevitably diminish so will passion as it can only last a certain amount of time because we know nothing can last forever as life as not eternal.
The poem The Nymphs Reply to the Shepard is set out in six stanzas each composed of four lines of similar length. This is a mimic of the layout used by Marlowe, here this gives prominence to the similarity of the two poems. Added to this both poems have a similar rhyme scheme and rhythm: “ Come live with me and be my love “ and the rhyme scheme of AABB running through both poems and effecting the readers opinion and interpretation.
I enjoyed reading both poems which were interesting in the contrasting views of both poets. Whilst Raleigh’s view of love is , I would guess , the more realistic, as a young girl I feel that Marlowe’s poem is much more romantic and exciting. Perhaps old age will change my opinion..
