However, they do represent the way he would treat the young maiden if she would accept his love. The tone of the poem also aids the writer in showing the boy's blissful and optimistic yet unrealistic outlook on life and love. The shepherd seems to think that giving the nymph everything beautiful under the sun will keep her content forever. "If these pleasures may thee move," (19) he suggests, "come live with me and be my love"(20). Another example of this keen tone is his vow of "sitting upon the rocks" (5) while watching "the shepherds feed their flocks" (6). In this verse he idealistically speaks of his intentions of granting her days free of work and worry. As a result of their love he feels the world will stop for them and let them enjoy love's long day free from the intrusions of the outside world. The speaker illustrates this through the celebration of love, youth, innocence, and poetry that stands as the underlying theme of the work. Many of the shepherd's ideologies seem to stem from the fact that he is young and inexperienced in love. Perhaps this is his first time being in love and because of this he hasn't come to understand that though his mind has stopped being concerned about the world, there is still a world that he needs to be concerned about. This is prime example of idealism. The shepherd promises that only wonderful things will happen and because he truly believes this, those promises soon turn into his reality. As an idealist, the Shepherd just can't embrace the reality that not all of his wants and wishes will come to pass.
In contrast, Sir Walter Raleigh responds to the shepherd's invitation through the voice of the Nymph in his poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd." It contrasts the fantasy world imagined by the boy with reality. The realist knows that things exist and evolve independent of their presence in the world. As the Philosophy of Mind Dictionary states: "briefly, a realist about "x" holds that "x" enjoys mind-independent existence.
