Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton was an English poet of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. His poetry is known for its patriotic and pastoral themes, blending classical influences with a celebration of English landscape and history. Biografía ↓Más ↓

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Michael Drayton

Sonnet XLIX: Thou Leaden Brain

Thou leaden brain, which censur'st what I write, And say'st my lines be dull and do not move, I marvel not thou feel'st not my delight, Which never felt'st my fiery touch of love. But thou, whose pen hath like a pack-horse serv'd, Whose stomach unto gall hath turn'd thy food, Whose senses, like poor prisoners, hunger-starv'd, Whose grief hath parch'd thy body, dried thy blood, Thou which hast scorned life and hated death, And in a moment mad, sober, glad, and sorry, Thou which hast bann'd thy thoughts and curs'd thy breath With thousand plagues, more than in Purgatory, Thou thus whose spirit Love in his fire refines, Come thou, and read, admire, applaud my lines.

Michael Drayton

Sonnet XVI: Mongst All the Creatures

An Allusion to the Phoenix 'Mongst all the creatures in this spacious round Of the birds' kind, the Phoenix is alone, Which best by you of living things is known; None like to that, none like to you is found. Your beauty is the hot and splend'rous sun, The precious spices be your chaste desire, Which being kindled by that heav'nly fire, Your life so like the Phoenix's begun; Yourself thus burned in that sacred flame, With so rare sweetness all the heav'ns perfuming, Again increasing as you are consuming, Only by dying born the very same; And, wing'd by fame, you to the stars ascend, So you of time shall live beyond the end.

Biografía

Michael Drayton was an English poet born in 1563 in Warwickshire, a contemporary of Shakespeare and Jonson. He wrote across a wide range of genres, including sonnets, pastorals, historical poems, and satires. His early sonnet sequence "Idea's Mirrour" (1594, revised as "Idea") explored themes of love and idealized beauty. His most ambitious work, "Poly-Olbion", is a vast topographical poem celebrating the landscapes, rivers, and legends of England and Wales. Drayton's style combines classical learning with a deep affection for English history and countryside, often employing detailed geographic and heraldic imagery. His historical poems, such as "The Barons' Wars" and "The Battle of Agincourt", reflect a patriotic engagement with England's past. Drayton also wrote satirical pieces like "The Owl" and "The Moon-Calf", showing his versatility. He held a minor court position under King James I and was respected by his literary peers. Despite never achieving the lasting fame of some contemporaries, his work is valued for its encyclopedic scope and national feeling. Drayton died in 1631 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, recognized as a significant figure bridging Elizabethan and Caroline poetry.

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