The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd send the overall message that their love will not withstand time unless the gifts last that long. In the first stanza, the Nymph says "These pretty pleasures might me move to live with thee and be thy love". With this she is saying that all that he is promising like, "a cap of flowers" and "buckles of the purest gold" will make her love him. The second stanza is the Nymph saying that over time love will not last. She says "Time drives the flocks from the field to fold" and "And Philomel becometh dumb" meaning to say their love will fall due to time. Again in the third stanza the Nymph is again saying that just like "flowers do fade, and wanton fields to wayward winter reckoning yields" their love will fade and die over time. After the third, the idea of pleasures keeping their love alive seems to switch as the Nymph is now saying the pleasures will "soon break" and "soon wither". In the fifth stanza the Nymph ends with "all these in me no means can move to come to thee and be thy love". She here is emphasizing her feelings on the pleasures the Shepherds is attempting to give to her to win her love. The last stanza is where the Nymph finally basically says that if there were no time,"joys no date", then she might move to love him.

Sir Walter Raleigh uses any devices in his poem. One device is alliteration, in which he uses to create a deep imagery. In the first stanza he writes "pretty pleasures" in which he is painting the pictures of the Shepherd's gifts. Alliteration is also seen in stanza two when he writes "flocks from field to fold", painting the picture of time affecting nature just like it will affect their love. "Coral clasps" in stanza five is again painting the picture of one of the many pleasures from the Shepherd. Raleigh also uses repetition to emphasize the important part to his main message and theme. In stanza four he writes, "thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies, soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten". He repeats these words and phrases in order to emphasize that the many gifts will so quickly no matter because they are tangible and not emotional.

This sonnet is unlike a Shakespearean sonnet as the structure is quite different. Instead of three quatrains followed by two couplets, there are simply six quatrains. The rhyme scheme is also different as it is AA, BB, CC,DD and so on. Much different than ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. They are similar however as this poem along with The Passionate Shepherd to His Love talks of a deep love of a young man. In these two poems, both the speaker and writer in both seem to be in love with the subject of their words. Also, both poems talk of the destructive power of time and moral weakness (giving gifts as a bribe for love).