Question

How does the speaker respond to the shepherd's promises in Walter Raleigh's poem "The Nymph's

Reply to the Shepherd"?

1. She refutes each promise as short-lived and unrealistic.
2. She hopes that he will be able to give her everything he promises.
3. She explains that she does not want any of these things; she only wants his love.
4. She accepts each promise and makes a vow to love him

Answer 1

The speaker responds in the following manner:

1. She refutes each promise as short-lived and unrealistic.

Step-by-step explanation:

Walter Raleigh's poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" is a response to the poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe. In Marlowe's poem, the shepherd promises a life of pleasures, of beds of roses and luxuries, to the nymph. However, in Raleigh's poem, the nymph responds, rejecting his promises. According to her, all those beautiful things, including love itself, are temporary. If she knew they would last forever, she would be tempted to accept his offers. But she knows very well all that passion will one day vanish:

[...]

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.

[...]

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.