Delia LIII

By Samuel Daniel 1562–1619 Samuel Daniel

Unhappy pen and ill accepted papers,

That intimate in vain my chaste desires,

My chaste desires, the ever burning tapers,

Enkindled by her eyes’ celestial fires.

Celestial fires and unrespecting powers,

That deign not view the glory of your might,

In humble lines the work of careful hours,

The sacrifice I offer to her sight.

But since she scorns her own, this rests for me,

I’ll moan my self, and hide the wrong I have:

And so content me that her frowns should be

To my infant style the cradle, and the grave.

What though my self no honor get thereby,

Each bird sings t’herself, and so will I.

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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