Sir Walter Raleigh Research Paper

Sir Walter Raleigh was born in Hays Barton England in 1552, and died in London England on October 29 (Miguel 918). He was a soldier, a courtier, an entrepreneur, and an explorer. These phases of his life lead to poetic works, and to a rounded view of the English court (Sauer 130). Sir Walter Raleigh not only gathered his experiences from life but he also analyzed every aspect of life as he wrote his poetry.

Raleigh’s poems are sites of struggles and attempts to write him into the world (Miguel 922). He considered his life to be a poem, as a bold gesture, and his poems were the events of his political role and his political ambitions (Miguel 919). One of the interesting things about Raleigh’s verse is the number of times he seems to be writing

“Raleigh described himself towards the end of his life as “a seafaring man, a soldier and a courtier (Miguel 920).” And his poetry articulates most of what drove him to those articulations.” He knew, deeply and bitterly, that there is nothing more to “becoming a wise man” than “to retire himself from court” (Miguel 918). Sir Walter Raleigh gave an example, accepted, and chose to live out the Elizabethan courts’ daring ability to advance and recover quickly (Ebsco). “George Puttenham mentions Raleigh’s poetry approvingly as “most lofty, insolent and passionate” and by the mid-1580 when he expressed his view, Raleigh already had the reputation of being a fine craftsman among the “crew of courtly makers, noblemen, and gentlemen” of Elizabethan court” (Miguel 922). His literary gift was an added characteristic, proper to the Renaissance concept of a fully developed personality (Kilvert 145). Raleigh’s poetry, however, does more than introduce sexuality into discourse: Inevitably the language of erotic compliment and complaint is inseparable from the language of power (Ebsco). He wrote because he had something urgent he wanted to say, and his intimate personal urgency is one of the dominant characteristics of his work (Kilvert 145). Raleigh’s life is like a tablet, requiring not only reading but also an in depth interpretation (Miguel 921). Too little of his poetry has survived to make any general assessment of it, to trace influence or suggest sources (Kilvert