Who wrote 'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd'?

Who wrote 'The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd'?

• A. Sir Walter Raleigh
• B. Edmund Spenser
• C. John Dryden
• D. Thomas More

Answer: (A)

This question tests your knowledge of who wrote a famous Elizabethan-era poem and how it relates to another poem from the same period. The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd is a response written by Sir Walter Raleigh to Christopher Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Raleigh uses the nymph’s voice to critique the shepherd’s rosy promises by arguing that time and change will eventually undermine any vows of endless youth and pleasure. This contrast—Marlowe’s idealized invitation versus Raleigh’s wary realism—helps anchor Raleigh as the author of the reply. Edmund Spenser is known for The Faerie Queene, John Dryden for Restoration poetry and plays, and Thomas More for Utopia and other prose works; none of these are the author of this particular poem.

This question tests your knowledge of who wrote a famous Elizabethan-era poem and how it relates to another poem from the same period. The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd is a response written by Sir Walter Raleigh to Christopher Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Raleigh uses the nymph’s voice to critique the shepherd’s rosy promises by arguing that time and change will eventually undermine any vows of endless youth and pleasure. This contrast—Marlowe’s idealized invitation versus Raleigh’s wary realism—helps anchor Raleigh as the author of the reply.

Edmund Spenser is known for The Faerie Queene, John Dryden for Restoration poetry and plays, and Thomas More for Utopia and other prose works; none of these are the author of this particular poem.