The Nymph And The Landslide

In “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the tone of the poem is non-optimistic. The nymph can not see the idealistic view of the shepherd ever working. She relates everything will change due to time and therefore believes the shepherds love will not last forever as well. The nymph states, “Time drives the flocks from the field to fold/When rivers rage and rocks grow cold.”(pg. 899 Bedford) This shows us that she feels nothing will last because eventually time takes over and everything changes. Even with all the offers the shepherd had for her she still rejects him with the doubt that it will not be everlasting. She says “Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy bed of roses/ Thy cap, thy kirtle and thy poises/Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,”(pg. 899 Bedford) which amplifies her statement that she doubts the shepherds love. At the end of the poem, th

e nymph reverses her views, but we find that she asks for impossible feats to happen in order for her to love the shepherd. The terms on which she states that she would love the shepherd are “But could youth last and love still breed/Had joys no date nor age no need/Then these delights my mind move/To live with thee and be thy love.”(pg. 900 bedford) This shows that if time and change never occurred she would love the shepherd because it would be forever.

The reason I chose these two pieces of work was because of the change theme within the two. Landslide written by Stevie Nicks and performed by the band Fleetwood Mac and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” by Sir Walter Ralegh have as many things in common, just as they have many things that differ between the two works.

The underlying theme in both works has to deal with change. In “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” the theme deals with how everything changes over time, especially love. With Landslide the change is also prevalent but it deals with the changes in the narrator’s life and how she is accepting towards it. This contrasts Ralegh’s work because the nymph does not want change because it will not let the love between her and the shepherd become reality. The narrator in Landslide is more confident and in touch with her feelings then the nymph because the nymph has doubts through out the entire poem.

On the other hand, the tone of Landslide is very reflective

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