Delia L

By Samuel Daniel 1562–1619 Samuel Daniel

Let others sing of knights and paladins

In agèd accents, and untimely words;

Paint shadows in imaginary lines

Which well the reach of their high wits records;

But I must sing of thee, and those fair eyes

Authentic shall my verse in time to come,

When yet th’ unborn shall say, "Lo where she lies,

Whose beauty made him speak that else was dumb."

These are the arks, the trophies I erect,

That fortify thy name against old age;

And these thy sacred virtues must protect

Against the dark and time’s consuming rage.

Though th’ error of my youth they shall discover,

Suffice, they show I lived and was thy lover.

Biography

Though admired as a lyric poet and historian, Samuel Daniel has found few enthusiastic readers for his dramatic works. Sober minded, restrained, reflective, and frequently prosaic, Daniel stands outside the popular-stage tradition, yet as an innovator he is of considerable importance in the history of Renaissance drama. Cleopatra is one of the earliest and best attempts to transplant French Senecan closet drama to the English . . .

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