Marlow and Raleigh: The team that never was

One of the most astounding pieces of poetry could not have achieved its popularity and fame without its counterpart, written some years after the first. In my opinion, Christopher Marlow’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is not by far his best work ever. In fact, it is only because Sir Walter Raleigh wrote his parody sequel, not really titled but never the less known as “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepard.” The response is by far one of the wittiest things I’ve ever read. What makes these two poems work so well, is that it is from the man’s point of view, and the second is from a woman’s point of view. Raleigh really had something going for him, because this was completely out of the ordinary from other things I’ve read from at the time. Mocking the fanciful and unrealistic quality of Marlow’s piece, Raleigh not only takes the approach through the eyes of a woman, but replies using more realistic tones; letting Marlow know how utterly ridiculous and idiotic his words mean. Everything in Marlow’s poem is nothing extraordinary from work of the time. In fact, he writes pretty much like others would have, making insane comparisons and descriptions of the woman’s body. Raleigh on the other hand points out every inconsistent truth that Marlow has marked in his poem. Raleigh’s theme is that life is not happily ever after; nothing is perfect and peachy and you can never promise that to be. There will be bad times, hard times, and even times when you’ll fight. We are not creatures of perfection, but of habit and imperfection. Spring will never stay forever, and eventually winter will come. Face the reality, and there you’ll find happiness in life. You cannot ignore the obvious.