Walter Ralegh

Sir Walter Ralegh

1552/1554-1618, English author, poet, courtier

Life

Sir Walter Ralegh (or Raleigh) was born in Devon as the son of Walter Ralegh of Fardell and Katherine Champernoun. He had a brother named Carew and a sister named Margaret. Sir Walter Ralegh studied from 1568 onwards at Oriel College in Oxford. Ralegh did not graduate and left college after three years of studying. In 1572 he moved to France where he supported the Huguenotes in their battle against the Catholics. He returned to England in 1574/1575 and became a member of the Middle Temple.

In 1578 Ralegh went on an expedition to North America with his half-brother Gilbert. After his return to England, Ralegh moved to Ireland in 1580 to stop Irishmen in Munster from revolting. He returned to England and - because of him being well versed in Irish policy - was called to the Privy Council due to his expertise.

According to anecdotes, Raleigh catched Queen Elizabeth's attention when he threw his coat on a puddle in front of her. Afterwards, he became her first favourite and climbed the social ladder. Ralegh was knighted around 1584. At court he occupied himself with colonization projects (Virginia, Guiana). Ralegh worked hard, according to Wallace he "slept but five hours of the twenty-four, gave four to reading, two to conversation, and the rest to business and whatever else was necessary" (Wallace 31). Sir Walter Ralegh popularised tobacco at court (he tried to grow it in Ireland), and dedicated himself to defeat the Spanish Armada. Therefore, he joined the council of war in 1587, emphasized the importance of the English fleet and built a ship.

Between 1586 and 1588 his reputation suffered and the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, appeared as a rival for Elizabeth's favour. However, after Devereux's secret marriage, Raley regained the Queen's favour. In 1592 a final break with Elizabeth took place, reasons for this may have been her keeping him from taking action again and again or Ralegh's secret marriage with Elizabeth Throgmorton. Ralegh was sent to the Tower but released later on. He tried to regain Elizabeth's favour.

After the Queen's death in 1603 Ralegh was sentenced to capital punishment in a trial because of a supposed plot against James the first. He was pardoned and sent to prison, released in 1616, sentenced again and finally executed by beheading on 29 October 1618.

Ralegh is described as arrogant, selfish and proud as well as generous, open-minded and adventurous. He loved literature and met Edmund Spenser in 1589. He was full of joie de vivre and did not care a lot about his reputation. People considered him an atheist later on.

Work

Ralegh's poems are very emotional, melancholic and passionate compared to other Eilzabethan ones. They lack the conventional aesthetics, exhibiting creative imagination and irony. Ralegh dealt "with the deepest tensions and conflicts of his being, fundamental problems that he could not resolve through action" (Greenblatt ix). He did not often sign his works and most remained unpublished at that time. Therefore, it is not entirely sure whether all poems are rightfully assigned to him.

A selection of Ralegh's works:

The Ocean's Love to Cynthia
In Commendation of George Gascoigne's Steel Glass (1576)
The Excuse
Epitaph on Sir Philip Sidney
Of Spenser's Faery Queen
Another of the Same
The Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Sheperd
Like Hermit Poor
Farewell to the Court
The Advice
False Love
Love and Time
History
A Poesie to Prove Affection is not Love
Report of the Truth of the Fight about the Isles of Azores
The Lie
The Pilgrimage
The History of the World

Sources

[1] picture: http://www.educationalresource.info/famous-people/31-sir-walter-raleigh.htm

[2] Wallace, Willard. Sir Walter Ralegh. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1959.

[3] Bullett, Gerald. Silver Poets of the Sixteenth Century. London: Dent, 1949.

[4] Greenblatt, Stephen. Sir Walter Ralegh: The Renaissance Man and His Roles. New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1973.

[5] http://www.britishexplorers.com/woodbury/raleigh.html

[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/raleigh_walter.shtml