CAPITOL UNIVERSITY

Osmena- Corrales Extension, Cagayan de Oro City

Philippines 9000
School Year 2016- 2017

ENGLISH LITERATURE

LITERARY CRITICISMS:
THE NYMPH’S REPLY TO
THE SHEPHERD
By Sir Walter Raleigh

Submitted by:
Estella M. Ibaoc
MAED- English I

Submitted to:
Ramir PJ V. Sonsona, Ph.D.

September 17, 2016

 THE NYMPH’S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD
Sir Walter Raleigh

This poem was written in response to the poem by Christopher Marlowe’s “The
Passionate Shepherd to his Love”. In Marlowe’s poem, the shepherd who is the speaker
proposed to his beloved by portraying the ideal world together and promising desirable
gifts. However, the nymph who happened to be the speaker of this poem refused the
proposal of the shepherd. The general themes of this poem are Time and Change. This
means to say that according to the nymph love and youth will fade through time. And
since time will affect it, change is inevitable. The nymph thought that because time
changes things, she can’t trust the offer of the shepherd.
This paper will show the literary criticisms or approaches that can be used in
order to deeply analyze the poem. Lines from the poem will be cited to further
understand the chosen literary criticism or approach.
The literary criticisms or approaches used are Structuralism, Archetypal and
Bibliographical Approaches.

Plot Summary
Raleigh argues that it is not society that taints sexual love.  We are already
tainted before we enter society. The speaker of the poem is the nymph. Sir Walter wrote
this poem in reply to the eager proposal of the shepherd. Through the stunning imagery
and figurative language used by the author, he was able to express an exquisite picture
of love. The nymph stated that the shepherd’s love for her will soon wither and change
just as the seasons are passing. She contrasted the hypothetical world presented by the
shepherd with reality. Moreover, she said that what made the shepherd’s vision false is
time. Time does not stand still; winter inevitably follows the spring; therefore, we cannot
act on impulses until we have examined the consequences. Furthermore, she attacked
his assumptions that love and lovers will remain young. Although in the last part of the
poem the nymph would open her heart to the shepherd and would change her mind if
youth and love will never age which is impossible to happen.
 Discussion/ Analysis

a. Structuralism Approach
 This poem uses the same meter and form to mirror the poem of Marlowe.
Most of the time it uses Iambic tetrameter and its form is six quatrains or four
lines stanza, like this example from the poem.
If all the world and  love were young,
And truth in every Shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move,
To live with thee, and be thy love.
 There are also poetic devices used to express meaning of the words. These
were also use in the poem of Marlowe however Raleigh used these to deliver
biting mockery.
Alliteration: flowers do fade, and wanton fields
Metonymy: truth in every Shepherd's tongue
Alliteration and Consonance: All these in me no means can move
 This poem uses a regular rhyme scheme which is AABB. In other words, the
first two lines of the stanza rhymes and the last two lines rhyme.
If all the world and love were young,          A   
And truth in every shepherd's tongue, A
These pretty pleasures might me move B
To live with thee and be thy love.  B
 The structure of the poem is the same with Marlowe’s The Passionate
Shepherd to His love but has different mood. In Marlowe’s The Passionate
Shepherd to his Love is full of excitement and eagerness whereas Raleigh’s
The Nymphs Reply is the exact opposite.

b. Archetypal Approach
 Philomel, or Philomela, is a character from Greek mythology that was
turned into a bird. Her name, however, has come to represent several
things, including a nightingale and musical instrument kind of like a violin.
 This line “And Philomel becometh dumb” can mean that either the musical
instrument ceases to play, or the nightingale is no longer singing.
 Symbols and images are used in this poem to give meaning to the
speaker’s idea about love. And how this so called love fades when time
and season change. Images used are flowers, rocks, rivers, roses, caps,
gowns and others that greatly contribute to the answer of the nymph to the
shepherd. These images were used in contradiction to Marlowe’s. in this
poem, it were used to give emphasis that it will wither the moment the time
changes.

c. Biographical Approach
 The reference to lying shepherds in line 2, then, can also potentially be
read as an attack on Elizabeth I. Raleigh spent much of his adult life in
good standing with the royal family, but due to the fact that he secretly
married one of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting in 1592, he wasn't exactly
on the best terms with the Queen when he wrote "The Nymph's Reply."
Elizabeth, it's said, flew into a jealous rage and threw him in the Tower
of London when she found out about the marriage. It's hard to know
exactly what the relationship between Raleigh and the Queen was, but
it's distinctly possible that the reference to shepherds and the general
attack on romance and love in the poem could be relevant to Raleigh's
personal history.
 Sir Walter Raleigh takes big risks and reaps good rewards. He was
greatly favoured by Queen Elizabeth I however this didn’t last long.
This gives us an idea that this is somehow related to the theme of the
poem that time changes things. This for the reason that the life of
Raleigh changed through times. Just like the perception of the nymph
towards love that nothing stays the same so as the life of Raleigh.
 Conclusion
The male speaker in Marlowe's poem is mainly concerned with beauty, pleasure,
and the present moment. The nymph refutes the shepherd's promises by pointing out
that all the clothing made of flowers that he promised to make for her will wither and rot.
She knows that beauty and youth will not last. She looks toward the future, expressing a
more practical outlook of love such as growing old together. Over time, the word has
come to mean a beautiful young woman--as Raleigh uses it in this poem. But Raleigh
clearly chose the word deliberately, aware of its other meanings and connotations.
Marlowe's speakers present the view that passion and pleasure are all we need in life.
Raleigh's speaker presents the more realistic and cynical view that passion and
romance will fade with time--that life is harsh and involves more than pleasure.

References
 BBC, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/raleigh_walter.shtml
 Alan Hughes on 4 November 2011
 Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (2-6, 13-14,
17-20, 23-24)
 Ovid, Metamorphoses. The Story of Philomela and Procne (7)