Sir Walter Raleigh

1552-1618

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Presentation by

Shunna Baker

Rebekah Proffer

Robert Moore

A Description of Love Sir Walter Ralegh

Now what is love? I pray thee, tell.

It is that fountain and that well Where pleasure and repentance dwell.

It is perhaps the sauncing bell That tolls all into heaven or hell:

And this is love, as I hear tell.

Yet what is love? I pray thee say. It is a work on holy-day;

It is December matched with May; When lusty bloods, in fresh array, Hear ten months after of the play:

And this is love, as I hear say.

Yet what is love? I pray thee sain. It is a sunshine mixed with rain; It is a tooth-ache, or like pain;

It is a game where none hath gain; The lass saith no, and would full fain:

And this is love, as I hear sain.

Yet what is love? I pray thee say. It is a yea, it is a nay,

A pretty kind of sporting fray; It is a thing will soon away;

Then take the vantage while you may: And this is love, as I hear say.

Yet what is love, I pray thee show. A thing that creeps, it cannot go; A prize that passeth to and fro; A thing for one, a thing for mo;

And he that proves must find it so: And this is love, sweet friend, I trow. 1593

Analysis of “A Description of Love”

By Sir Walter Ralegh

This poem has many elements that contribute to its physical structure.

The poem is organized in five stanzas. The division of the stanzas

immediately draws the attention of the reader’s eyes to the poem. Raleigh

gives the reader a different description of love in each stanza. This helps

make the point that love does not have a concrete description; it can be

described in many different ways as reflected in the division of his

stanzas. Each of the lines includes eight syllables, four beats and ends

with a rhyming word. All these elements together make up a lyrical

poem. Raleigh chooses to write this poem with the steady beat and rhyme

so the words would flow off the readers tongue like a song. Some of the

most popular songs we hear today use rhythm and rhyme to portray the

emotion and meaning behind the lyrics. This poems lyrical style talks

directly to the reader. His feelings about love are clearly portrayed

through his choice of words and rhyme scheme. All these elements

combined pull in the reader’s attention thus making a reading experience

that is memorable and heartfelt.

Shunna Baker

Notes

Queen Elizabeth I

© National Portrait Gallery, London

A Farewell to False Love by Sir Walter Raleigh

FAREWELL, false love, the oracle of lies, A mortal foe and enemy to rest,

An envious boy, from whom all cares arise, A bastard vile, a beast with rage possessed,

A way of error, a temple full of treason, In all effects contrary unto reason.

A poisoned serpent covered all with flowers,

Mother of sighs, and murderer of repose, A sea of sorrows whence are drawn such showers

As moisture lend to every grief that grows; A school of guile, a net of deep deceit,

A gilded hook that holds a poisoned bait.

A fortress foiled, which reason did defend, A siren song, a fever of the mind,

A maze wherein affection finds no end, A raging cloud that runs before the wind, A substance like the shadow of the sun, A goal of grief for which the wisest run.

A quenchless fire, a nurse of trembling fear,

A path that leads to peril and mishap, A true retreat of sorrow and despair,

An idle boy that sleeps in pleasure's lap, A deep mistrust of that which certain seems, A hope of that which reason doubtful deems.

Sith* then thy trains my younger years betrayed, [since]

And for my faith ingratitude I find; And sith repentance hath my wrongs bewrayed*, [revealed]

Whose course was ever contrary to kind*: [nature] False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu.

Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew.

Analysis of “A Farewell to False Love”

by Sir Walter Raleigh

Raleigh’s shifting feelings throughout the poem and his way of unveiling

the story are what shapes the organization of this poem. Raleigh’s

waffling between anger and sadness throughout the five stanzas shows

that his emotions have not settled and that he has not come to a point of

acceptance or peace. The speaker goes through a different stage in each

stanza and ends with his eventual resignation to the falseness he failed to

predict. In the first line of the poem, the speaker is saying farewell to his

false love, and goes on to use descriptive language to give the audience an

impression of how chaotic his emotions are. The second stanza shows

more of speaker’s sorrows than anger, returning to the subject of anger in

the third, speaking of the way his love had clouded his mind and left him

nothing but rage. The speaker’s despair and newfound distrust of others

debuts in the fourth stanza, but in the end all that that speaker is left with

is bitterness. The poem loosely follows iambic pentameter, five beats per

line, appropriate for the rhyme scheme used. Raleigh’s use of the ababcc

rhyme scheme gives the poem’s lines a natural flow and rhythm that ends

each thought in a completed sense.

Rebekah Proffer

Notes

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Walter Ralegh; Walter Ralegh

"Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son,"

by Sir Walter Raleigh

Three things there be that prosper up apace

And flourish, whilst they grow asunder far,

But on a day, they meet all in one place,

And when they meet, they one another mar;

And they be these: the wood, the weed, the wag.

The wood is that which makes the gallow tree;

The weed is that which strings the hangman's bag;

The wag, my pretty knave, betokeneth thee.

Mark well, dear boy, whilst these assemble not,

Green springs the tree, hemp grows, the wag is wild,

But when they meet, it makes the timber rot,

It frets the halter, and it chokes the child.

Then bless thee, and beware, and let us pray

We part not with thee at this meeting day.

Analysis of “Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son,"

by Sir Walter Raleigh

The poem is in an English sonnet format with a continuous stanza

in iambic pentameter. This arrangement helps keep the seriousness

of the poem’s tone. The lines of the poem rhyme on every other

line until the final two lines, and these two lines rhyme with each

other. The rhyming effect has a steady rhythm giving the poem a

lyrical effect. This lyrical effect is an attempt to help the speaker’s

words ring true to his son. The rhyme scheme is interesting

because each line alternates in references to the boy and in

references to his demise. The term for a wild boy appears twice,

and the other terms only appear once, but each line further hints at

what will come of the boy. The poem reaches climax when the

speaker says, “chokes the child” (line 12). This is a stern warning

from father to son. The second stanza defines not only the items,

but also the father’s opinion of his son. He calls his son a

handsome liar in the classic tongue, and tells him he is moving

towards the noose, which must be a hard thing for a father to say.

Robert Moore

Notes

Works Cited

George Gower. Queen Elizabeth I. 1588. Painting. National Portrait Gallery, London. Web. 30 Jun 2012.

<http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw02077/Queen-Elizabeth-

I?LinkID=mp01452&displayStyle=thumb&role=sit&rNo=9>.

'H' monogamist. Sir Walter Ralegh. 1588. Painting. National Portrait Gallery, London. Web. 30 Jun 2012.

<http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05204/Sir-Walter-

Ralegh?LinkID=mp07051&role=art&rNo=0>.

Ralegh, Sir Walter. "Sir Walter Ralegh to His Son." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen

Greenblatt. 8th. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. 918-919. Print.

Ralegh, Sir Walter. "A Farewell to False Love." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen

Greenblatt. 8th. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. 921. Print.

Raleigh, Walter. "A Description of Love. “Poetry of the English Renaissance . Ed. J. William Hebel and Ed.

Hoyt H. Hudson. New York: F. S. Crofts & Co, 1941. 135. Web. 28 Jun. 2012. <luminarium.org>.

Unknown. Sir Walter Ralegh; Walter Ralegh. 1602. Painting. National Portrait Gallery, London. Web. 30 Jun

2012. <http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05205/Sir-Walter-Ralegh-Walter-

Ralegh?LinkID=mp03700&role=sit&rNo=2>.