Composition

The outer composition of the poem “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” by Sir Walter Raleigh consists of six stanzas, each having four verses. The verses rhyme in couplets and the rhythm is iambic pentameter. 

The inner composition of the poem is fairly simple and straightforward. The nymph rejects the shepherd’s offer to live together as lovers, because she believes his love and possessions, like the changing seasons, will be short-lived. The poem is written as an answer to another poem, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe, in which a shepherd asks someone to become his lover. The words of the nymph in Raleigh’s poem mention the promises made by the shepherd in Marlowe’s poem and show why they do not move her.

You can read more on the poem’s outer and inner composition in the following pages.