The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd - by Sir Walter Raleigh

Assignment:
1. Read the poem.
2.Translate and explain the meaning of the poem in essay form.

THE NYMPH'S REPLY TO THE SHEPHERD

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.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel[1] becometh dumb;[2]
The rest complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields:[3]
A honey tongue,[4] a heart of gall, [5]
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
The gowns,[6] thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies [7]
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,—
In folly ripe, in reason rotten. [8]
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
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.
- Sir Walter Raleigh, before 1599

FOOTNOTES
1 In Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Greek mythology, Philomela (Φιλομήλα) was a daughter of Pandion I, King of Athens. Philomela's defiant speech is rendered (in translation) as:
Now that I have no shame, I will proclaim it.
Given the chance, I will go where the people are,
Tell everybody; if you shut me here,
I will move the very woods and rocks to pity.
The air of Heaven will hear, and any god,
If there is any god in Heaven, will hear me.

She was a woman who would speak her mind!

2 “dumb” meaning silent. Check a dictionary!
3 “wanton” = unrestrained, reckless, also sexually promiscuous, when applied to a person, “wayward” = difficult to control or predict. “reckoning yields” = figuring out how much they’ve got (usually used in farming, about how much they have harvested.
4 “honey tongue” = smooth talking (person)
5 “gall” =illness, disease (in a plant), but also rude arrogance, in a person
6 “gowns”= elegant clothing, can be male or female
7”kirtle”= belt, “posies” = a bunch of flowers, given as a gift
8 “folly” = lack of good sense, as a foolish idea

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