When I read Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” I thought it was an interesting poem but if the reader takes it literally, it is not romantic at all. Sheep smell! What happens when winter comes? Then I read Ralegh’s “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” and he brings up a lot of my issues with the first poem. I think that it is interesting that while Marlowe’s poem is quite well known--most people have at least heard the first couple lines—we can look at his poem and have the same reaction that Sir Walter Ralegh had in 1600. It makes me wonder with situations like Queen Elizabeth and Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene” whether she saw the poem the same way we see it. In my opinion “The Faerie Queene,” while interesting, is overly flattering and very obvious in its attempt to win the queen’s support. If Queen Elizabeth had a similar opinion, that could explain why she gave Spenser the castle in Ireland, since that castle seems to have been more of a punishment than a reward.
Rachel Means
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI think that Eliz had one mean sense of humor. Talk about ironic.