SOURCE: “The Courtier's Pen,” in Sir Walter Ralegh, Twayne Publishers, 1989, pp. 25-37.

In the following excerpt from his critical biography of Raleigh, May offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of Raleigh's early verse.

“Swete were the sauce,” “Sweete ar the thoughtes.” According to John Aubrey, Ralegh “was sometimes a Poet, not often,” while a contemporary said of his last verses that they marked “his farewell of Poetrie wherein he had ben a pidler even from his youth.”¹ Both assessments appear to be essentially correct provided we do not underestimate Ralegh's continuous use of poetry in the promotion of his own interests or his sincere appreciation of it as an enjoyable art form. The earliest identifiable influences upon Ralegh's development as a poet are the works of George Gascoigne, George Whetstone, Arthur Gorges, and the earl of Oxford. For Gascoigne Ralegh composed the commendatory verses published in 1575 (Poem 1). The...