SOURCE: Sanderson, James L. “The Social Applications of Poetry.” In Sir John Davies, pp. 83-110. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975.

In the following essay, Sanderson analyzes Davies's use of poetry to further his social status.

The success a man like Davies sought in the courtly society of Elizabethan England depended not only upon his means and abilities but also upon his social connections. To stand out in London among so many gifted and ambitious men demanded the support and intercessory talents of a patron (or patrons), one who had made his way up Fortune's hill and was willing to give a hand up to another, perhaps by mentioning his name at an opportune moment, by directing some preferment his way, by introducing him to those who might also interest themselves in his career—or, when one was in difficulty for having attacked a fellow student at the Middle Temple—by...