Michael Drayton (1563–1631) was a Jacobean English poet. An essential minor poet, his lengthy historical poems and didactic verse quickly lost popularity.
Born in Hartshill, Warwickshire, Drayton became a page in a wealthy household and spent the rest of his life in patrons’ homes. His earliest work was The Harmonie of the Church (1591,) a metrical rendering of biblical passages. His first significant poem, Mortimeriados (1596; also The Barons’ Wars, 1603,) was followed by England’s Heroical Epistles (1597.)
Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall (c.1606,) odes in English in the manner of Horace, contain some of Drayton’s most familiar poems, including The ‘Ballad of Agincourt’ and ‘Fair Stood the Wind for France.’ His best-known work, Poly-Olbion (1613; expanded 1622,) is among the longest poems in English.
In 1619, Drayton collected in one volume all the poems (except ‘Poly-Olbion,’) which he wished to preserve, and, in 1627, he published a new volume of miscellaneous poems, among them the whimsical ‘Nymphidia, the Court of Fairy.’ His last work, The Muses Elizium (1630,) contains some pastoral poems.
Drayton’s only surviving play is The First Part of Sir John Oldcastle (1600.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Michael Drayton
What grief can there be that time doth not make less?—But infamy, time never can suppress.
—Michael Drayton
With much we surfeit; plenty makes us poor.
—Michael Drayton
Must, bid the Morn awake!
Sad Winter now declines,
Each bird doth choose a mate;
This day’s Saint Valentine’s.
For that good bishop’s sake
Get up and let us see
What beauty it shall be
That Fortune us assigns.
—Michael Drayton
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