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faith only in reason’s power to discount the “folly” of “fancy’s spring.” ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ POEM TEXT If all the world and love were young,...

faith only in reason’s power to discount the “folly” of “fancy’s spring.” ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ POEM TEXT 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. 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 But time drives flocks from field to fold, 5 When rivers rage and rocks grow cold, And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complain of cares to come. The flowers do fade, and wanton fields To wayward Winter reckoning yields; 10 A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall. 104  Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, 15 In folly ripe, in reason rotten. Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 All these in me no means can move To come to thee and be thy love. 20 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. 105  POEM SUMMARY ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ Lines 1–8 The nymph’s reply begins in the subjunctive—the grammatical mood used to convey hypothetical or contingent action. The subjunctive is commonly expressed with the “if... were” construction: “If I were king,” for example, or, in the first line of the poem, “If all the world and love were young.” This usage sets up the primary rhetorical structure of the entire poem: the speaker is going to contrast the shepherd’s vision, his2023/2024 2023/2024 hypothetical world, with the realities 2023/2024 introduced by the word “but” in the second stanza. While the second part of the “if” statement—“And truth in every shepherd’s tongue”—may seem the more biting, the nature of the contrast exists in the first part. What renders the shepherd’s vision false, the nymph says, is time: the world and love do not remain young. Thus, while she finds lovely the shepherd’s evocation of spring, shallow rivers, flocks of sheep and rocks that exist merely so lovers can sit on them, in reality these ideal images are time- bound, subject to change and decay. Thus, “time drives flocks from field to fold,” “rivers rage” from rainy weather, “rocks grow cold” with winter, and even the nightingale—the timeless symbol of beauty unmentioned in the Marlowe 106  poem—becomes “dumb” with the change in seasons. In contrast with the nightingale are “the rest”—those who do not ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ become dumb but who instead “complain of cares to come.” By this, the nymph means human beings who, burdened with the consciousness of passing time, are subject to the anxiety of future misfortunes. In the shepherd’s evocation, no such anxieties can exist because no such timeless world can exist: his vision, like Keats’s Grecian urn, is only a product of the imagination. Lines 9–16 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 Raleigh makes frequent use of the poetic devices that give Marlowe’s poem its musicality. Yet the reader cannot help but sense the mockery in end-rhymes like “gall”/“fall” and “forgotten”/“rotten,” especially since they follow couplets in which Raleigh exactly duplicates Marlowe’s rhymes: “fields”/“yields” and “roses”/“posies.” It is as if the nymph adheres to the shepherd’s style one moment only to undermine it the next. The same is true for the way Raleigh mimics Marlowe’s overuse of alliteration, or the repetition of initial consonant sounds: “flowers” and “fade,” “wayward” and “winter,” “spring” and “sorrow,” “fancy” and “fall.” But the slyest form of mockery occurs in lines 9 and 10. Here, Raleigh 107  imitates the glaring grammatical mistake found in the Marlowe poem: just as Marlowe fails to match the singular verb “yields” ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ with its plural subjects in the first stanza of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” so Raleigh mismatches the same singular verb in line 10 with its plural subject “fields” in line 9. But there are also bits of original trickery in the Raleigh poem. In the last line of the second stanza the reader might find a clever double-meaning for the words “spring”—meaning either “source” or the season—and “fall”—an allusion both to autumnal death and the to the “fall of man.” This last meaning 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 refers to the creation story: living in the timeless Garden of Eden and unaware of death or change, man fell prey to the “honey tongue” of Satan, who convinced man to eat the fruit of God-like knowledge. The consequence of such knowledge is, of course, the awareness of death. After Eden, one cannot live in “fancy’s spring” as the shepherd pretends one can. With human consciousness, one instead must suffer the burden of foreknowledge. Thus, the nymph reminds him, his gifts only symbolize decay and the passing of time: they “so on break, soon wither,” and are “soon forgotten.” While “in folly” such gifts may seem to exist always in their perfect, “ripe” state, to 108  a reason-possessing and time-haunted human like the nymph, they are already “rotten” with the foreknowledge of change. ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ Lines 17–24 In the final two stanzas, the nymph shifts back to the subjunctive mood of the opening lines. Listing the last of the shepherd’s gifts, she says, “All these in me no means can move / To come to thee and be thy love.” This seems her final word: her rejection. Yet the last stanza offers a twist—a “but.” “[C]ould youth last,” she says, and “Had joys no date”—if the world were as the shepherd has promised, 2023/2024 2023/2024 in other words, then 2023/2024 indeed she would be “moved” by his offer and become his love. Although reason prohibits her belief in his promises, she nevertheless wishes such belief were possible. Thus, the nymph admits to the human need to believe in timelessness and immortality. At the same time, however, she must acknowledge that reason prohibits such belief, which it dismisses as “folly.” THEMES Skepticism This poem is a response to Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” written in 1599. In 109  Marlowe’s poem, the shepherd asks the woman that he loves ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ to run away with him and live the simple life outdoors, where he will make her clothes from flowers and shells and the wool of their sheep, and life will be a celebration of their youthful love. In her response, Raleigh has the nymph list reasons why the ideal life that the shepherd describes is unlikely to happen. The shepherd emphasizes his love, as if love alone can conquer any problems, and he lists the things that he is willing to do for her as well as the splendours of the simple country life. The nymph, on the other hand, looks at the darker side of human 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 nature. In the second line, she brings up the idea that shepherds do, in fact, lie sometimes, implying that she would be foolish to believe everything that he claims. Throughout the rest of the poem, she explains reasons why, whether he is sincere or not, she has to be skeptical that their life together would be as the shepherd describes it. Her main point is that the shepherd’s plans do not account for the changes that are inevitable over time, and so the future that he foresees will almost certainly not come to pass. Her skepticism is based on the fact that she understands his hopeful vision, but that she also sees that he does not understand the world well enough to make an accurate prediction. 110  Abstinence and Chastity ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ An element that is important to understanding the nymph’s reluctance, but that is never explicitly stated in the poem, is the value she places on her chastity. Her main argument is that the young lovers will probably, over time, lose interest in one another as youthful beauty fades and eventually part. To readers who assume that the two could then go on with their lives separately, this might seem unimportant. This view, however, does not take into account how much would have changed 2023/2024 in the nymph’s life by the2023/2024 sheer fact of having lived 2023/2024 with the shepherd. To a young lady of the sixteenth century, the importance of retaining her chastity and the circumstances under which she would give it up could not be overstated. There would be no going back to the person she was before once she decided to live with the shepherd. To the strong Christian sensibilities of Elizabethan England, living and sleeping with the shepherd would constitute a serious sin. To a great extent, modern social mores are so different from the nymph’s that today’s readers cannot feel the enormity of what the shepherd is asking her to give up with such a faint possibility that their love will last. On the other hand, readers who are aware of the immense importance earlier generations 111  put on a woman’s chastity might be surprised to hear the ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ nymph say she actually would be willing to run off with the shepherd if she thought that their youthful enthusiasm could last. Decay The aging process can sometimes be seen as a period of growth and refinement. The examples that the nymph uses in this poem, however, all present aging as decay. Rivers run dry, plants shrivel, and birds die and fall silent. The nymph uses these examples to show what must 2023/2024 inevitably become of 2023/2024 2023/2024 youthful love over the course of time. In line 16, she discusses the flowers that the shepherd has offered to weave into clothes for her, and explains their eventual decay with the words, “In folly ripe, in reason rotten.” Her point is that the flowers can only be thought to stay their best, “ripe,” through mistaken thinking. Reason is the process of seeing the shepherd’s offer through to its inevitable solution and, as this nymph sees it, all of the things that the shepherd promises, as well as all things in nature, inevitably lead to decay. The examples that she uses to show decay, just as the examples that Christopher Marlowe previously had the shepherd use to show the vibrancy of his love, are all physical 112  symbols from nature. This poem does little to address the issue ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ of whether love can grow and adapt—whether it can, as line 21 puts it, “still breed.” Like Marlowe, Raleigh draws a connection between love and the worldly things found in nature. The difference is that Marlowe’s shepherd points out that love is as wonderful as the nature images he describes, while Raleigh’s nymph points out how love eventually will be as decayed as those natural objects. Lies The nymph in this poem briefly 2023/2024 mentions the possibility 2023/2024 2023/2024 of the shepherd being untrue, in the second line, but for the most part she examines his offer to her as if he is being sincere. She does not seem to think that the flowery prose Christopher Marlowe gave the shepherd to say is a trick to get her to run away with him. Instead, she briefly passes over the fact that people generally have the capacity to lie, as just one minor consideration. Contemporary readers are used to seeing writers present their works with some sort of falsehood embedded within them. The post-modern, ironic sensibility gives readers more than the surface situation that is presented, often giving the narrator a hidden, secret idea as well. In a case like Marlowe’s poem, a contemporary poet would be more likely 113  to hint that the shepherd is just using poetic language to trick ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ the nymph into sleeping with him. The fact that the nymph only mentions this possibility in passing indicates that she probably thinks he is not lying, or, if he is, he is lying to himself as much as to her. Dramas from the Elizabethan era often present deceptive characters, indicating that lying was not unusual when Raleigh wrote this poem, only that it was not assumed in love poetry of the day. STYLE In2023/2024 structure, “The Nymph’s Reply2023/2024 to the Shepherd” mimics 2023/2024 Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Like the latter poem, it consists of six four-line stanzas, or quatrains, with each stanza the fusion of two rhymed couplets. Also like Marlowe’s poem, the predominant meter of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is iambic tetrameter. This means each line contains four iambs, or two-syllable units of rhythm in which the first syllable is unstressed and the second is stressed. As an example of iambic tetrameter, consider the following line from the poem: If all the world and love were young... 114  If we divide the iambs from one another and distinguish ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ unstressed from stressed syllables, the line appears like this: “If all / the world / and love / were young...” Reading the line naturally, note the emphasis on the four stressed syllables. Throughout the poem, Raleigh seems to mock Marlowe’s strict adherence to iambic tetrameter, even going so far as to mimic many of Marlowe’s end-rhymes (“roses” and “posies,” for example). This is appropriate to the nature of the response: Raleigh is replying in Marlowe’s own terms, eliminating the chance that the superiority of the his argument might be taken 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 as purely rhetorical.  Figures of Speech in “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” In Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” several literary devices are employed to counter the idealized vision of pastoral love presented in Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Here are the key literary devices in Raleigh’s poem: 1. Alliteration  Examples: o "But time drives flocks from field to fold" (line 5) 115  o "rivers rage" (line 6) "Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall" (line 12) ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ o o "Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten" (line 15) The repetition of consonant sounds in these phrases creates a rhythmic flow, while also emphasizing the inevitability of decay and change, countering the shepherd’s idyllic promises. 2. Metaphor  Examples: 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 o "A honey tongue, a heart of gall" (line 11) o "Fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall" (line 12) The "honey tongue" refers to sweet but deceptive speech, while the "heart of gall" represents bitterness or betrayal. These metaphors highlight the contrast between fleeting pleasures and deeper, inevitable disappointments. "Fancy’s spring" is the metaphor for youthful pleasures, while "sorrow’s fall" represents the eventual decline into sadness. 3. Personification  Examples: o "Time drives flocks from field to fold" (line 5) 116  o "When rivers rage and rocks grow cold" (line 6) "Philomel becometh dumb" (line 7) ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ o Time is personified as a force that drives the flocks, symbolizing the passage of seasons and aging. The rivers "rage," suggesting a violent transformation of nature, while Philomel (the nightingale) becomes silent, symbolizing the loss of beauty and song as time progresses. 4. Repetition 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024  Examples: o "Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten" (line 15) o "To come to thee and be thy love" (lines 4, 20, 24) The repetition of “soon” emphasizes the transience of material things and pleasures, reinforcing the nymph’s argument that beauty and joy are fleeting. The repeated phrase "to come to thee and be thy love" serves as a refrain, highlighting her ultimate rejection of the shepherd’s offer. 5. Hyperbole  Example: "Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses" (line 13) 117  This is an exaggeration of the luxurious gifts the shepherd ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ promises, such as beds made of roses, emphasizing their unrealistic and temporary nature. 6. Imagery  Examples: o "Gowns, shoes, beds of roses" (line 13) o "Belt of straw and ivy buds, / Coral clasps and amber studs" (lines 17–18) 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 The nymph uses vivid imagery to refer to the material goods offered by the shepherd, only to dismiss them as impermanent. The fading flowers, withering fields, and wintery landscapes create a visual contrast to the eternal spring and youth promised by the shepherd in Marlowe's poem. 7. Irony  Examples: A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall (lines 11–12) 118  The irony lies in the nymph’s assertion that the shepherd’s ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ sweet words ("honey tongue") conceal bitterness ("heart of gall"). The phrase "fancy’s spring" suggests a temporary phase of pleasure, followed by inevitable sorrow. The nymph’s tone is ironic, as she mocks the unrealistic promises of the shepherd. 8. Rhyme Scheme The poem follows a regular AABB rhyme scheme throughout, which 2023/2024 mirrors Marlowe’s original poem. The rhyming 2023/2024 2023/2024 couplets create a musical, almost sing-song rhythm, but the nymph’s tone is cold and dismissive, highlighting the contrast between the optimistic shepherd’s vision and her skeptical, pragmatic view. 9. Symbolism  Examples: o "Philomel becometh dumb" (line 7) o "Flowers do fade" (line 9) Philomel, the nightingale, traditionally symbolizes beauty, love, and nature’s song, but her silence in the poem represents the loss of youth, beauty, and vitality. The fading flowers 119  symbolize the transient nature of life and love, underscoring the nymph’s skepticism toward the shepherd’s promises. ‫ﻧﻴﺮﻣﻴﻦ ﻗﻄﺐ ﺍﺑﺮﺍﻫﻴﻢ ﺭﻣﻀﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻳﺲ‬ 10. Parallelism  Examples: o "Had joys no date nor age no need" (line 22) The structure of this line uses parallelism to suggest that if the conditions of eternal youth and love were possible, then the nymph might accept the shepherd’s offer. The mirrored 2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024 structure highlights the hypothetical nature of her statement, reinforcing the impossibility of what the shepherd promises. 10. Tone The tone of the poem is skeptical, realistic, and even a bit mocking. The nymph’s reply undermines the romantic, idealized view of love and nature presented in Marlowe’s poem. Her tone emphasizes the temporary nature of beauty, love, and material pleasures. Raleigh uses these devices to craft a response that is both a rejection of the shepherd's idyllic promises and a meditation on the transience of life and love. 120