For this comparative essay, I have chosen to compare the poem "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," by Sir Walter Ralegh to the song Landslide written by Stevie Nicks and performed by the band Fleetwood Mac. The content of the essay will focus on the tone, theme, sound effects, imagery, point of view and form between the two works. .
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, the 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. .
On the other hand, the tone of Landslide is very reflective. The narrator is reflecting on her love and how she spent it. It seems that she is also afraid of a change coming, but is ready and willing to accept it. This is so because the narrator feels that time can make everything better and that she will pass through their feeling of being afraid.
