College of Education

ENG118- Survey of English and American Literature

1st Semester, AY 2022-2023
Emmanuel D. Dayalo, EdD, Course Facilitator

Activity 4

Name: MARCHELLE T. CABE Course/Year/Section: BSED ENGLISH 3B

1. Why it is considered that "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Walter Raleigh is a parody
of Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love."

“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is Sir Walter Raleigh’s response to a poem
written by Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” In the Marlowe
poem, the shepherd proposes to his beloved by portraying their ideal future together: a life filled
with earthly pleasures in a world of eternal spring. Raleigh’s reply, however, debunks the
shepherd’s fanciful vision. While Marlowe’s speaker promises nature’s beauty and a litany of
gifts, Raleigh’s nymph responds that such promises could only remain valid “if all the world
and love were young.” Thus, she introduces the concepts of time and change. In her world, the
seasons cause the shepherd’s “shallow rivers” to “rage,” rocks to “grow cold” and roses to
“fade.” The shepherd’s gifts might be desirable, but they too are transient: they “soon break,
soon wither” and are “soon forgotten.” In the end, the nymph acknowledges that she would
accept the shepherd’s offer “could youth last” and “had joys no date.” Like the shepherd, she
longs for such things to be true, but like Raleigh, she is a skeptic, retaining faith only in reason’s
power to discount the “folly” of “fancy’s spring.”

2. What is the message that the persona of the poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" wanted
to convey?

'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd' by Sir Walter Raleigh is filled with pastoral
images that contain a negative response to the shepherd's plea. Throughout this poem, the
nymph describes how time, pleasure, and all possessions, are fleeting. These joys won't last
forever, nor will impetuous choices and sweet words.

3. Discuss the comprehensively the elements of the poem:

A. Form - 'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd' by Sir Walter Raleigh is a six stanza poem that
is separated into sets of four lines.
B. Sound - The tone of the poem is non-optimistic. The nymph cannot see the idealistic view of
the shepherd ever working. She relates everything will change due to time and therefore
believes the shepherds love will not last forever as well.
C. Rhyme - These lines follow a rhyme scheme of AABB CCDD, and so on, changing end
sounds from stanza to stanza. Raleigh made use of iambic tetrameter when it came to the
metrical pattern.
D. Imagery - The natural imagery is presented as constantly in decay and moving closer toward
death. There is no mention of the rejuvenation and new life associated with springtime, only
of rot and withering.
E. Figurative Language - Raleigh makes use of several literary devices in 'The Nymph's Reply
to the Shepherd'. These include but are not limited to caesura, alliteration, and simile. The
latter, a metaphor, is a comparison between two, unlike things that do not use “like” or “as”
is also present in the text.

Accredited: Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP)
Member: Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC)
Agricultural Colleges Association of the Philippines (ACAP)
 F. Speaker - The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd' was written as a response to 'The Passionate
Shepherd to His Love' by Christopher Marlowe. The speaker is a young, beautiful female
nymph. A “nymph” is a creature from Greek mythology who is considered to be a
personification of nature.
G. Theme - The poems “The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir William Raleigh, and
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe have the same central
theme, that love and nature are beautiful but don't last forever. Both authors use literary
elements to support this central idea.
H. Symbol - 'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd' by Sir Walter Raleigh is filled with pastoral
images that contain a negative response to the shepherd's plea. Throughout this poem, the
nymph describes how time, pleasure, and all possessions, are fleeting. These joys won't last
forever, nor will impetuous choices and sweet words.
4. Narrate/Interpret the poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Walter Raleigh by
recording it through a video. Observe proper pronunciation, breathing, enunciation, gesture, etc. Submit
video in my messenger.
(uploaded in the google drive)

Accredited: Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACCUP)
Member: Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC)
Agricultural Colleges Association of the Philippines (ACAP)