In "Sonnet 75,"Spenser allows the speaker's lover to respond
directly to the speaker. Compare her statements with those of the nymph in
Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" (page 316). In what ways are
their responses similar?
In both the poems the beloved is seen responding to her lover and his love.
In the first poem, the beloved has no issue with the lover forgetting her and the waves washing her name away. It is the lover who insists on eternalizing their love.
The nymph too is not moved by all the material gifts given to her by her lover and speaks the truth when she says that if youth was to stay for long she wouldn’t mind being her beloved. Her approach to love is very straightforward and like the beloved in Spenser’s sonnet she is very candid to her lover baring her mind to him.
