Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd, The, is a lyric by a poet of the English Renaissance, Sir Walter Raleigh. Perhaps best known as a soldier and explorer, Raleigh was also a historian, poet, scholar, and courtier. For many years, he was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I.
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” was published in 1600, in an anthology of Elizabethan verse entitled England’s Helicon. It is a reply to the famous love lyric by Christopher Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” published in 1599. Marlowe’s verse begins with the lines, “Come live with me, and be my love, / And we will all the pleasures prove….” This sensuous tribute to earthly delights is written in the pastoral tradition. It paints an idealized picture of the shepherd’s life to represent an idyllic existence of simplicity and love.
Raleigh’s reply, on the other hand, takes a more realistic view of love and mortality. To Marlowe’s vision of timeless pleasure, Raleigh answers with a vision of time’s relentless control of seasons and age.
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. 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 fields To wayward Winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, In 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 move To 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 move To live with thee and be thy Love.
Marlowe’s verse indulgently imagines “beds of roses,” “a thousand fragrant posies,” a “cap of flowers,” and a “kirtle” (long dress) of myrtle-leaves for his love. Raleigh counters that such items soon wilt and wither; such images are “In folly ripe, in reason rotten.” Reason is the defining characteristic of Raleigh’s reply to Marlowe. “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love” is idealized, romantic, and unrealistic. Raleigh would be happy to share in the fantasy, “could youth last and love still breed.” But the realities of short-lived joys and inevitable age make him know otherwise. Cleverly echoing Marlowe’s verse forms and refrain, Raleigh rejects the argument of Marlowe’s poem.
Raleigh’s most important work was probably The History of the World (1614), written while he was imprisoned by King James I, successor to Elizabeth I. He also wrote several prose works relating tales of his extensive travels. Critics recognize Raleigh as an important poet of his age, despite some problems with authenticating his verse. After a lifetime of fame and glory, Raleigh finished his years in prison. He was executed on charges of treason in 1618.
For more information about Raleigh, see Raleigh, Sir Walter. See also English literature (Elizabethan poetry); Marlowe, Christopher; “Passionate Shepherd to His Love, The“.
