What is real love? What qualities of love determine if love is not real? Popular television shows such as The Bachelor showcase an unrealistic type of love—promises made that cannot be fulfilled or looking at love as a game with a prize to win. Poetry has been a showcase for both types of love. Often poetry showcases unrealistic qualities of love, but poetry also showcases qualities of real, engaging love. The universal theme of love in poetry can be reflected as unrealistic or realistic love.
Sometimes promises can be too good to be true. Unrealistic love is just that, too good to be true. In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” the speaker, an uneducated shepherd, promises his love things that he could never actually give his love. In the …show more content…
This technique allows readers of both poems to compare the content of each poem. In doing so, the reader will find several similarities throughout both poems. One similarity would be the Nymph’s answers to The Passionate Shepherd’s promises. For example, in Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the speaker, The Nymph, is the love interest of The Passionate Shepherd. The Nymph recognizes the unlikeliness of the promises she has been promised by The Shepherd. Consequently, every promise in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” has made, The Nymph shoots down. For example, The Shepherd promises The Nymph “A gown made of the finest wool” in the fourth stanza (l. 13). In the fourth stanza of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the speaker suggests that the gown the shepherd promised would break. The Nymph does not only find the promised gown unlikely; she finds each promise made by The Shepherd unlikely. These unlikely promises include a life of leisure, slippers with buckles of gold, and a belt of straw. By perfectly showcasing the unrealistic qualities of The Poor Shepherd’s …show more content…
One of the most honest portrayals of a realistic love is reflected in the Carpe Diem poems. All Carpe Diem poems are focused on Seizing the Day or making the most of the time spent on this earth. While not all Carpe Diem poems are honest and realistic, some are. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, “The theme – Carpe Diem—is best exemplified by a familiar stanza from Robert Herrick’s To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” While “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” can be classified under an Eros type of love, the love portrayed in this poem is more serious. The speaker is not trying to seduce any woman; he is just trying to warn every woman that one’s youth is the best time of their life and to enjoy it. This worried approach is far different from the poem “To Celia,” where the speaker views seducing women as a prize to be won. In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” the speaker is an older man who has made a terrible mistake—not seizing his day while he was young. The speaker regretfully begs younger women to enjoy their life while they are still young and to not make the same mistake he has made. The speaker wants to persuade younger women to not waste their time. In order to do so, the speaker uses personification to demonstrate how fast time on earth goes. For example, the speaker says, “And this same flower that smiles today tomorrow will be dying” (ll. 3-4). The speaker is not only
Sometimes promises can be too good to be true. Unrealistic love is just that, too good to be true. In “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” the speaker, an uneducated shepherd, promises his love things that he could never actually give his love. In the …show more content…
This technique allows readers of both poems to compare the content of each poem. In doing so, the reader will find several similarities throughout both poems. One similarity would be the Nymph’s answers to The Passionate Shepherd’s promises. For example, in Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the speaker, The Nymph, is the love interest of The Passionate Shepherd. The Nymph recognizes the unlikeliness of the promises she has been promised by The Shepherd. Consequently, every promise in “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” has made, The Nymph shoots down. For example, The Shepherd promises The Nymph “A gown made of the finest wool” in the fourth stanza (l. 13). In the fourth stanza of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the speaker suggests that the gown the shepherd promised would break. The Nymph does not only find the promised gown unlikely; she finds each promise made by The Shepherd unlikely. These unlikely promises include a life of leisure, slippers with buckles of gold, and a belt of straw. By perfectly showcasing the unrealistic qualities of The Poor Shepherd’s …show more content…
One of the most honest portrayals of a realistic love is reflected in the Carpe Diem poems. All Carpe Diem poems are focused on Seizing the Day or making the most of the time spent on this earth. While not all Carpe Diem poems are honest and realistic, some are. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, “The theme – Carpe Diem—is best exemplified by a familiar stanza from Robert Herrick’s To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.” While “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” can be classified under an Eros type of love, the love portrayed in this poem is more serious. The speaker is not trying to seduce any woman; he is just trying to warn every woman that one’s youth is the best time of their life and to enjoy it. This worried approach is far different from the poem “To Celia,” where the speaker views seducing women as a prize to be won. In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” the speaker is an older man who has made a terrible mistake—not seizing his day while he was young. The speaker regretfully begs younger women to enjoy their life while they are still young and to not make the same mistake he has made. The speaker wants to persuade younger women to not waste their time. In order to do so, the speaker uses personification to demonstrate how fast time on earth goes. For example, the speaker says, “And this same flower that smiles today tomorrow will be dying” (ll. 3-4). The speaker is not only