Description

Yet another book on Sir Walter Ralegh? What's new about this one? My answer is that very few books have been published about his writing. His prose works, which were so popular in the 17th century have only been discussed in one full length study. And his poems - some of which would find a place in any anthology - have not been collected and edited since Agnes Latham's edition in 1962. Since then, new poems have come to light, and I have been able to construct a revised canon and place the poems in the context of his life and ambitions.

This is not a biography in the sense of being a detailed record of the events of Ralegh's life. It is a study of his character, revealed through his poetry and prose -including what he wrote in his letters, and what his contemporaries wrote about him. I seek to explain how the enemies he made in his early days as the Queen's favourite connived in his destruction. Why was he unpopular with the Elizabethan establishment until the trial which led to his imprisonment? And how did his life and writings make him a legend with the next generation?