in 1600, Sir Walter Raleigh ( 1552-1618 ) wrote:
“The Nymph’s Reply to The Shepherd”
https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/nymphs-reply-3Links to an external site.
Sir Raleigh’s poem was written as a response to Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”.
Sir Walter Raleigh was a controversial figure during the Elizabethan Age (a time of great prosperity as well as artistic and cultural growth for England). Also, during this time, Europeans engaged in frequent exploration and colonization of the “New World”.
Sir Walter Raleigh’s Biography:
While Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is regarded as an idealistic poem of attraction, romantic expression, and pursuit, Sir Walter Raleigh’s “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is regarded as a more pessimistic or realistic response to the pursuit of a potential romantic partner or would be lover.
In the link below, please carefully review, read, and compare Marlowe’s “Passionate Shepherd to His Love”, and Sir Raleigh”s “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”.
https://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/201/marlowe/shepherd_&_notes.htmLinks to an external site.
Your assignment;
Based on the rhyming patterns, symbolism, and imagery of each of these poems, please construct/write your own 4 to 6 stanza poem in which you either make promises to your love, or you reply to a potential lover’s request.
Remember that the rhyming pattern for Marlowe’s and Sir Raleigh’s poems is iambic tetrameter, or 8 syllables per line with the first two lines of a each quatrain rhyming or having 2 syllables (aabb).
Please incorporate your own unique voice and creative vocabulary to express yourself as either the pursuer or the pursued.
Please give your poem a title which expresses the main idea and focus of your poem.
Your poem should express specific ideas while adhering to the rhyming pattern and requirements of this assignment.
