Walter Raleigh

His life

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocratic, poet, writer, soldier, courtier, explorer and spy.He was born in Hayes Barton in Devonshire to a protestant family in 1554.

He was nearly 6 foot tall and he hated the Catholic Church.He founded the secret society called "The School of Night" which was attended by fellow highly prominent Elizabethans - new beliefs were discussed and it is closely related to the mysterious Rosicrucian movement.

The New World

Raleigh's plan in 1584 for colonisation in the "Colony and Dominion of Virginia" (which included the present-day states of North Carolina and Virginia).He is also famous for the discovery of Guiana.

Raleigh arranged for the construction of one of the ships involved in fighting the Armada. "The Ark Royal" weighed 800 tons and was completed in 1587. It had four masts and a normal crew of 270.Thus Raleigh donated the ship in exchange for an I.O.U. of 5,000.

Missing the Armanda

It was rebuilt in 1608 and it was renamed Anne Royal.

It was finally due to an accident in 1636.

Sir Raleigh the poet

He was also a renowned poet.It is worth noting that spelling in those days was largely free-style and that those who transcribed poems often added their own "improvements". Thus the known words from his poems may well be inaccurate.

His poetry

This is one of his poems:

"What is our life? A play of passion"

What is our life? A play of passion, Our mirth the music of division; Our mothers' wombs the tiring-houses be Where we are dressed for this short comedy; Heaven the judicious, sharp spectator is That sits and marks still who doth act amiss; Our graves that hide us from the searching sun. Are like drawn curtains when the play is done: Thus march we, playing, to our latest rest, Only we die in earnest, that's no jest.