Drayton, Michael

(1563-1631)

   It is conjectured that Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Atherstone, Warwickshire, and that he was in the service of Sir Henry Goodere of Powlesworth, Warwickshire, who seems to have played a part in Drayton's education. Just as little is known about his birth, little is known about his life, apart from his voluminous publications. When James I ascended the throne in 1603, Drayton acclaimed the accession in verse, but was indiscreet not to mention the departed Queen Elizabeth. This breach of etiquette cost him a place at court. He was buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to him by the Countess of Dorset. Some of his publications: Harmonie of the Church, 1591. Idea, the Shepherd's Garland, 1593. Peirs Gaveston, 1593. Idea's Mirror, 1594. Matilda, 1594. Endymion and Phoebe, 1595. Robert, Duke of Normandy, 1596. England's Heroical Epistles, 1597. Poems Lyric and Pastoral, 1606. Poly-Olbion, 1612-1622. Some of his poems: "Baron's War," "The Battle of Agincourt," "The Fairy Palace," "The Moone-Calfe," "The Owle," "To the Virginian Voyage," "Wrestlers."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Poets of the English Language. Volumes I-V. W.H. Auden and Norman Holmes Pearson, eds. Viking Press, 1950. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Cherry-Tree. Geoffrey Grigson, ed. Phoenix House, 1959. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).