“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” and “Sonnet 30 and 75”

Upon reading The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh, Sonnet 30, and Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser, I noticed they too deal with love. But like On Monsieur’s Departure by Elizabeth I and The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlow, they view love in differently.

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh replies to Marlow’s poem. But instead of the sweet, romantic way the reader had expected, the beloved turns him deal with harsh words of reality. She says his gifts and sweet promises won’t last and rotten. Pretty bitter, if you ask me.

Sonnet 30, and Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser are on the opposite ends of the love. Sonnet 30 is of unrequited love. The beloved in the poem refuses to show her love to the young man. The whole thing rips the young man inside for he burns with love inside. I have empathy for him in a way when I read the poem.

Sonnet 75 on the other hand, is much sweeter. The young man tries to write his love’s name in the sand but it washes away. He tries to write again but only in vain. The girl questions why he bothers to write her name in the sand. He replies that he will write her name in the heavens where it will stay forever. I like the Sonnets better than Raleigh’s poem.