Hello
friends,
I would like
to share a poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh. I
studied this poem during my graduation.
Sir Walter
Raleigh was an English landed gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, politician,
courtier, spy and explorer. Raleigh was one of the most notable figures of the
Elizabethan era.
Before knowing
something about this poem, it is necessary to read the poem “The Passionate
Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe.
Sir Walter Raleigh wrote this poem as a reply to Christopher Marlowe's poem, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”. Let us see both the poems together.
Sir Walter Raleigh wrote this poem as a reply to Christopher Marlowe's poem, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”. Let us see both the poems together.
In Marlowe's poem, the shepherd flatters his love by making promises of
an ideal life and all sorts of material things and advantages.
In this poem
the nymph replies the shepherd. This reply is somewhat harsh that the shepherd doesn’t
want to hear. According to her love is not permanent. She doesn’t trust him and
she rejects the shepherd. She explains the shepherd’s poem line by line and
explains that whatever he wants to do for her will either die or change with
time. What the nymph needs is something permanent, something that exceeds the
periodic nature of things.
She ends the poem by saying that she cannot be
moved to love him no matter what he promises her or says to her. In the last stanza, she concludes this way:
But could
youth last and love still breed,
Had joys
no date nor age no need,
Then
these delights my mind might move
To live
with thee and be thy love.
The nymph
therefore rejects the shepherd's appeal. She desires things which are
impossible to achieve. Her wishes are not realistic. Nothing is permanent, and
if you wait for these unrealistic wishes to come true then you miss the moment
of happiness that is in front of you. By rejecting Shepherd’s love somewhere
she is closing the door of happiness in getting permanent happiness that is
again impossible.
References:-
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