Comparing Sir Walter Raleighs The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd to Chr

Comparing Sir Walter Raleighs The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd to Christopher Marlowes The ardent Shepherd to His Love Sir Walter Raleigh wrote The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd in 1600 to respond to Christopher Marlowes The Passionate Shepherd to His Love written in 1599. In The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, the Shepherd used double-entendres and hidden sexual images in an attempt to fast one the Nymph into performing sexual intercourse with him. The Shepherd attempted to convince the Nymph that he would bestow her the divers(a) presents and pleasures that he described, but in public his gifts only comprised of sexual meanings. However, the Nymph was exceedingly intelligent and conscious of the Shepherds hidden seductions. She was so smart, that she hastily rejected the Shepherds proposal by using the exact haggle that the Shepherd used in his request. The Shepherd in Marlowes song used disguised sexual images in hope that the Nymph would be attracted to him. The Shepherd low offered the Nymph ...valleys, groves, hills, and fields, / woods, or steepy mountain yields ( ). He hopes that the Nymph would interpret the images as places he would like to take her, but in actuality the Shepherd was describing to the Nymph the various parts and curves of her body which he would like to explore. The Nymph replies to his offer by stating The flowers do fade, and wanton fields, / to wayward winter reckoning yields ( ). Which means that things change and though the Shepherd has a sexually unrestrained body, that through time he will become headstrong and unwilling to cross the sexual pleasures. As the poem continues, the Shepherd offers the Nymph a belt of straw and ivy buds ( ). The belt and ... ... have moved you, then come live with me so that we may continue making these pleasures. The Nymph replied with If truth in every shepherds tongue/ these pretty pleasures might me move (2-3). She would be moved by what the Shepherd said if he wanted more from her than just a sexual relationship. Through reading the works by Marlowe and Raleigh its determined that the shepherd had only sexual feelings for the Nymph. The poems showed no acts of love, only sexual desires that the Shepherd was feeling and a strong sense of rejection from the Nymph. The Nymph did an extraordinary job of standing up for herself. The Shepherd failed in his aim to trick the Nymph and ended up looking like a jackass. Works CitedMarlowe, Christopher. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. From The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth ed. New York Norton, 1993.