Sir Walter Ralegh's 'What is our life?'

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552/54-1618)

The hyphenated man. During his life he played so many roles, that at the end he was able to look back and see it as a series of performances. It’s perhaps ironic that while his date of birth may be disputed, the place time and manner of his dying could probably be noted exactly.

Even his execution had elements of performance.

Sir Walter Ralegh's 'The Lie'

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

One of those poems that doesn’t date, that stays relevant?

Ralegh or Raleigh, take your pick. The ultimate hyphenated man of the Elizabethan Renaissance. And nowhere does the gap between what the poems claim and what the poet did in his day job seem greater.: this was the man who took part in the massacre at Smerwick. Who set off in tiny ships to sail to America: Flamboyant Courtier, Royal Favourite, Brutal soldier, Poet, Scholar, Patron of poets, falling out of Royal favour with James, and despite his failure to find El Dorado, sailing home knowing home meant execution. Even his death seems emblematic of the end of an age.

‘The Lie’, also called ‘Sir Walter Ralegh’s farewell’, ‘The Soul’s errand’ and ‘Satyra volans’ is dated to the 1590s, and circulated in manuscript. Apparently there are replies to it. It’s not the poem Sir Walter wrote in the tower, waiting to have his head removed from his shoulders.

This version is taken from the excellent ‘The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse’ 1509-1659: selected and introduced by David Norbrook and edited by H.R. Woudhuysen (2005) For anyone with any interest in the poetry of this period, the preface and introduction are an education and the selection goes far beyond the usual suspects.