SIR WALTER RALEIGH AS A POET.
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Sir Walter Raleigh as a Poet
Bv Nina Holland Covington.
When that gorgeous Pageant, the Age of Elizabeth, comes
upon the stage of history, there is no more splendid figure
among the actors than that of Sir Walter Raleigh, who makes
his spectacular appearance before the queen by throwing his
velvet coat upon the muddy ground so that she may walk over
dry-shod. Characteristic indeed of the man and of the age is
this anecdote of Raleigh’s young years. The romantic cour¬
tier lived in a period well suited to his varied talents and
accomplishments, for it was an age of war, of exploration, of
colonization, of learning, of wit, of extravagance in speech
and dress, and an age which gave fullest encouragement to
literature.
Perhaps the most important thing in Raleigh’s career as
it affected history was the fact that he made numerous at¬
tempts to establish settlements in America, and although
these settlements were not permanent, nevertheless, as has been
so well said,* “You cannot measure great events with a yard¬
stick. Men die, ideas are immortal. The idea of another
England boyoud the Atlantic, conceived by the master mind
of Sir Walter Raleigh, was the germ from which, through
the development of three centuries, has evolved the American
nation of the twentieth century. There is a vital connection,
both physical and spiritual, between Roanoke and Jamestown.
Among those who founded Jamestown were ten of the men
who had co-operated with Raleigh in the settlements at Roan¬
oke. In these men we have the physical connection between
the two, while to the idea conceived by Raleigh and to the
spirit of conquest and colonization which his attempts on this
island called into existence, the English race in Europe, in
Asia, Africa and Australia and the islands of the sea, and in
America, owes the world-wide prominence which it to-day
*B. D. W. Connor “ Sir Walter Raleigh and Bis Associates,’’ Book¬
let, Vol. X 1, No. 3.