Michael Drayton

Ill news hath wings, and with the wind doth go,
Comfort’s a cripple and comes ever slow.

Michael Drayton (1563 – December 23, 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.

Quotes

• Crave the tuneful nightingale to help you with her lay,
  The ousel and the throstlecock, chief music of our May.
  • The Shepherd’s Garland (1593), eclogue 3, l. 17

• That shire which we the Heart of England well may call.
  • Poly-Olbion (1612-22), song 13, l. 2 (Warwickshire)

• To my mild tutor merrily I came
  (For I was then a proper goodly page
  Much like a pigmy, scarce ten years of age)
  Clasping my slender arms about his thigh.
  O my dear master! cannot you (quoth I)
  Make me a poet? Do it, if you can,
  And you shall see, I’ll quickly be a man.
  • To Henry Reynolds, of Poets and Poesy, l. 24 (1627)

• Marlowe, bathed in Thespian springs
  Had in him those brave translunary things,
  That the first poets had.
  • To Henry Reynolds, of Poets and Poesy, l. 105

• For that fine madness still he did retain
  Which rightly should possess a poet’s brain.
  • To Henry Reynolds, of Poets and Poesy, l. 109

• Next these, learn’d Jonson, in this list I bring,
  Who had drunk deep of the Pierian spring.
  • To Henry Reynolds, of Poets and Poesy, l. 129

• He made him turn and stop, and bound,
  To gallop, and to trot the round,
  He scarce could stand on any ground,
  He was so full of mettle.
  • Nimphidia, The Court of Faery, st. 45 (1627)

• The coast was clear.
  • Nimphidia, The Court of Faery

• I pray thee leave, love me no more,
  Call home the heart you gave me,
  I but in vain the saint adore,
  That can, but will not, save me.
  • To His Coy Love

• These poor half-kisses kill me quite.
  • To His Coy Love

England's Heroical Epistles (1597)

• Care draws on care, woe comforts woe again,
  Sorrow breeds sorrow, one grief brings forth twain.
  • Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, to the Lady Geraldine, l. 87

• When Time shall turn those amber locks to grey,
  My verse again shall gild and make them gay.
  • Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, to the Lady Geraldine, l. 123

The Barons' Wars (1603)

• Ill news hath wings, and with the wind doth go,
  Comfort’s a cripple and comes ever slow.
  • Canto 2, st. 28

• He was a man (then boldly dare to say)
  In whose rich soul the virtues well did suit,
  In whom so mix’d the elements all lay,
  That none to one could sovereignty impute,
  As all did govern yet all did obey;
  He of a temper was so absolute,
  As that it seemed when Nature him began,
  She meant to show all, that might be in man.
  • Canto 3, st. 40

• The mind is free, whate’er afflict the man,
  A King’s a King, do Fortune what she can.
  • Canto 5, st. 36

• Thus when we fondly flatter our desires,
  Our best conceits do prove the greatest liars.
  • Canto 6, st. 94

Idea's Mirror (1594, '95, 1619)

• How many paltry, foolish, painted things,
  That now in coaches trouble every street,
  Shall be forgotten, whom no Poet sings,
  Ere they be well wrapt in their winding-sheet!
  Where I to thee eternity shall give,
  When nothing else remaineth of these days,
  And queens hereafter shall be glad to live
  Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
  • VI, line 1

• Dear, why should you command me to my rest,
  When now the night doth summon all to sleep?
  Methinks this time becometh lovers best;
  Night was ordain'd together friends to keep.
  • XXXVII, line 1

• Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part,
  Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;
  And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
  That thus so cleanly I myself can free.
  Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,
  And when we meet at any time again,
  Be it not seen in either of our brows
  That we one jot of former love retain.
  Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
  When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,
  When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
  And Innocence is closing up his eyes,
  Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
  From death to life thou might’st him yet recover.
  • LXI

To the Cambro-Britons and their Harp, His Ballad of Agincourt (1619)

O when shall English men
With such acts fill a pen?
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry?

• Fair stood the wind for France,
  When we our sails advance,
  Nor now to prove our chance,
    Longer will tarry;
  But putting to the main
  At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
  With all his martial train,
    Landed King Harry.
  • Lines 1-8

• Yet have we well begun,
  Battles so bravely won
  Have ever to the sun
    By fame been raisëd.
  • Lines 29-32

• Victor I will remain
  Or on this earth lie slain,
  Never shall she sustain
    Loss to redeem me.
  • Lines 37-40

• They now to fight are gone,
  Armour on armour shone,
  Drum now to drum did groan,
    To hear, was wonder;
  That with the cries they make,
  The very earth did shake,
  Trumpet to trumpet spake,
    Thunder to thunder.
  • Lines 57-64

• Suffolk his axe did ply;
  Beaumont and Willoughby
  Bare them right doughtily;
    Ferrers and Fanhope.
  Upon Saint Crispin’s Day
  Fought was this noble fray,
  Which fame did not delay
    To England to carry.
  O when shall English men
  With such acts fill a pen?
  Or England breed again
    Such a King Harry?
  • Lines 109-120

To the Virginian Voyage (1619)

• You brave heroic minds
  Worthy your country’s name,
  That honour still pursue;
  Go and subdue!
  • St. 1

• And in regions far,
  Such heroes bring ye forth
  As those from whom we came;
  And plant our name
  Under that star
  Not known unto our North.
  • St. 10

External links

• Poet's Corner: Michael Drayton.