Booklet for class

Š National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Walter Raleigh 1552-1618

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

Š National Portrait Gallery, London

Queen Elizabeth I

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

Š 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-ElizabethI?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-WalterRalegh?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. â&#x20AC;&#x153;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-WalterRalegh?LinkID=mp03700&role=sit&rNo=2>.