Sir Walter Raleigh writes of a nymph's reply to an eager shepherd's request. Through his stunning use of imagery and figurative language, Raleigh paints an exquisite picture of true love versus the shepherd' s lust.

In the poem the nymph compares the shepherd' s "love" in the second quatrain to just a momentary feeling, or even a crush, when she says ". . .and Philomel becometh dumb, the rest complains of cares to come." By saying this, the Nymph clearly states that the shepherd's love for her is much like a season and will soon pass out of existence just as summer must one day turn to winter. Sir Walter Raleigh also uses imagery when the Nymph speaks of the gifts that the shepherd can give her, in the fifth quatrain, she says to his offer ". . .Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe in season rotten." Again she tells the shepherd that there is no true love between them, for just as a flower flourishes during the summer, so might the shepherd' s love, but it will not last; as the flower perishes during the winter, so shall his love for her become bleak.

The nymph, however, does slow down to show the shepherd that there might be some hope for them when she

*repition of intial consonant sounds- ex: "flowers" and "fade", "wayward" and "winter", "spring" and "sorrow", "fancy" and "fall"

Concrete- The words are specific and give a mental picture

Speaker is the nymph (the young girl)

The nymp wished the world could be immortal.

The use of imagery and figurative language by Sir Walter Raleigh not only brings the poem to life, but it also sets a tone, a mood, to which the poem 'lives by'. "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" has a rather daunting mood, as the nymph cuts the shepherd's proposal to shreds. Yet, towards the end, the mood gains hope when the Nymph offers that if the shepherd were able to prove his love for her then maybe their union could be possible. Imagery and Figurative language give a poem its life and mood; without these two key components poetry would be nothing more than just lifeless words scribbled on a piece of paper.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 921
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)