Renaissance Love Poem Versus Current Love Song English Literature Essay

In the current essay we will compare the Renaissance poem by Christopher Marlowe “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” and current popular song “Love The Way You Lie”, performed by Rihanna and Eminem. It is obvious there will be crucial differences in the approach to express feelings and to say “I love you” in a very different manner.

In the poem by Christopher Marlowe “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” we can see the described nature by the author, a lot of romance and very timidly asks a woman to be his Love. And in the current popular song “Love The Way You Lie”, performed by Rihanna and Eminem, we can see “the other century” in the words and in the sense. It can be seen that there are other values; other ways to express feelings, there is less romance and more creativity in the song. The song describes the pain people get, as the love hurts and this point is the main and it is described in detail in the current song.

The description of the feelings and love today differs so much from the last years and centuries, as we seem to have other things that are in the way of the relationships. Each century has its problems, its technologies and its peculiarities. That is why we are able to see such contrast between two people who are in love and who try to be convincing using their words. While the song give us a lot of information about the relationships, its problems, the poem reminds a tide of feelings and descriptions of what the author was seeing at the moment when he was writing the poem. Beautifully described nature in the poem makes everyone who read it to imagine everything the author is describing, as it seems calm and beautiful, magical and eternal.

It can be certainly noted, that in the times of Renaissance, love was perceived as nature- beautiful, independent, perfect. Today, in our materialistic society, it cannot be perceived this way anymore. Today people have other values, invented by them, as they forget about the real important things to appreciate, as we have so many other things to pay attention that sometimes we forget about feelings and their importance. It can be seen in the song, as there is describe the situation of how people got along with each other, and a man describes his love in short words, he does not say anything romantic. Probable today men are not so romantic as they were at the times of a Renaissance, as today the society has other values that can overshadow the important things. As well, maybe women have accepted the fact that they will not hear romantic words and sincere words of feelings from a man, because today different gifts and presents, unfortunately, substitute them. As we live in the materialistic society, then we are forced to play by its rules. One more cause of such change in the perception of love in centuries may be the technological progress, as in the period of Renaissance people could communicate with the help of letters, and now it is possible to make phone calls, to write messages on the cell phone, e-mails, communicate via social media and chat. At the times of Renaissance people missed each other more and consequently valued more, and now when there are many things available to use and many ways to communicate, people start looking for something more interesting, always searching for the better. Often people take many things for granted, and suffer only when they lose them. And this song is about these things, about the lost love, a man is begging his love to come back to him. Probably, if someone presented a poem in a Renaissance style to his loved one, this person would think it is a joke, or would be confused, as today there are other rules for this kind of things.

Nowadays, comparison of love with nature does not happen, and that is why people are usually surprised when they see something like that. Rivers, birds and the countryside are not so romantic today for women, as they dream of other things. The things that have not changed in the poem and in the song are people’s perception of love, their feelings. What is changed – are the adjectives with the help of which people compare their feelings and the situation they are in. Romance has changes a lot, the whole approach to the perception, the meaning, the way of life and future is seen the other way. In today’s busy world people want to have everything at a time – a job, a loved person, money, career, children, house…And in the period of Renaissance people had other values, where dominated the family, children and home. The society today dictates the trends, the values, “the important” things, the “must haves” and other modern innovations. As a fact, online communication has a huge influence of what is happening around the world, on relationships between people, on their behavior, on their plans and life. Some people do not find it necessary to go out of the home because they have internet connection and social media helps them live their life online, while the real offline life passes very quickly. In the poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, the peace and isolation are the key words that describe the life of a shepherd who is waiting for his love. But today it is almost impossible to live isolated in romance and in harmony with the nature as described in a poem, as the song describes the relationship that did not last because of the mistake a man made and he is alone. It is obvious, that today people make the things more complicated because of the rules the society has made itself.

All in all, there is so big difference between the life in the Renaissance period and today that it is almost impossible to imagine what life would be like. Many people would not like to give up everything they have and change it for what the Renaissance period could give them. Probably, people who lived in Renaissance period would not understand the meaning of the current popular song, as the things have changed so much in these centuries that it is difficult to believe it. Both the song “Love The Way You Lie” and the poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” reflect love, and till people have the ability to express their feelings, the life is worth living.