In Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”, Raleigh brings the reality into the poem originally written by Christopher Marlowe. In Marlowe’s poem “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” it seems that the only thing the shepherd wants is someone beautiful to live with and he’ll give her anything to keep her with him as a trophy. It is possible that the shepherd truly loves this girl, but if it is true love he shouldn’t have to act like he’s trying to buy her to stay with him.
In Raleigh’s “reply” the Nymph, as Raleigh has chosen to characterize the girl, tells the shepherd that “These pretty pleasures might me move/ To live with thee and be thy love”, but that these things are not enough to keep love alive (1224, ll. 3-4”). The nymph continues with this logic, saying, “The flowers do fade, and wanton fields/ To wayward winter reckoning yields” explaining that wilted flowers and dead fields do not appeal to anyone, nonetheless someone who has been given “These pretty pleasures” (ll. 9-10).
The story is the same as any girl, anywhere. We want to be loved for what is inside us, not how young and beautiful we are. We don’t cost as much as men make us out to, but only want true love and a place to call our home. And many times, home is in the person we love.
Raleigh, Sir Walter “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”. The Norton Introduction To Literature. 10th ed. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 1224. Print
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