The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd

By: Sir Walter Raleigh

Vivian Hett and Courtney Fischer

If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd’s tongue,These pretty pleasures might me moveTo live with thee and be thy love.

But Time drives flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,And Philomel becometh dumb;The rest complains of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fieldsTo wayward winter reckoning yields;A honey tongue, a heart of gallIs fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies. Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,Thy coral clasps and amber studs,All these in me no means can moveTo come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,Had joys no date, nor age no need,Then these delights my mind might moveTo live with thee and be thy love.

Poem Analysis

• Paraphrase- • What is this poem really about?• It is about a shepherd who wishes the world was

not so corrupt• He thinks if the world could go back to when it was

young, people could truly love again• He believes time ruins all things and that he can’t

be with the woman he dreams of

• Connotation-• Rhythm- Iambic Tetrameter• Helps to emphasize specific words that connect to

the emotion of the poem• Melody- Rhyme• Helps to make the poem flow smoothly• Helps to show the change in emotion between

stanzas• Examples- dumb and come, gall and fall

• Imagery- Personification• Makes the poem lively• Helps relate the poem to nature and the emotions

that specific seasons create• Examples- rivers rage, rocks grow cold

• Attitude- • Contemplative loneliness• The Shepherd feels lonely but is constantly debating

how the world has lost its power to feel love• Shift-• There is a transition between the 5th and 6th stanzas• The negative emotion and attitude turns to look for a

positive emotion• Symbolizes how Raleigh viewed the world and how

we should see it is hard to find true love• Title- • “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”• Shows how the woman would love the Shepherd but

the Shepherd would know the love is not true love• Shows how corrupt the Shepherd sees the world

Theme

• Form-• Lyric• The poem expresses feelings and emotions of not

being loved

•Purpose-• Reflect on life• Shepherd regrets not finding true love early enough

in life

Theme

• Find love young before it’s too late• The world will corrupt people as they become older, find love at a

young age • “Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, in folly ripe, in reason

rotten”• This means that the older you get, the less likely you are to be

happy with love

• Know who to trust• Some people will lie to get fake love, true love is hard to find• “And truth in every shepherd’s tongue”• This means that truth is not in everyone, so find the right people

to trust

Historical Context• Time Period? • Renaissance (1485-1660)• Author, Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

• Connection to Author-• Raleigh was one of Queen Elizabeth’s secretaries and captain of

guard but was convicted of treason and eventually executed by King Henry

• He didn’t think of himself as a writer, 35 of his poems survived• His poems are powerful but outspoken and blunt• In “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, we see the blunt words

but are able to understand how powerful Raleigh was making them

• Known as a metaphysical poet

Historical Context

• Connection to Renaissance-• In an article from Discovering World History, a piece is

written about the Renaissance time period:• “...they valued the condition of earthly life, glorified man’s

nature, and celebrated individual achievement. These combined to form a new spirit of optimism...”

• End of poem, Raleigh changes the attitude to a positive outlook. The Shepherd gains optimism of what his future may hold.

Historical Context

• Connection to Renaissance-• From the Norton Anthology of Poetry, the authors

wrote about the common metric pattern of the time period• “Between the Renaissance and the rise of free verse in this

century, iambic meter was the dominant rhythm of English poetry...”

• Because iambic was such a common metric pattern and the poem we analyzed was from this time period, it is also found in iambic

• When looking at the Renaissance poetry, it is important to look at the metric pattern to see how it relates