(1563-1631)

Drayton's style can be considered forthright, a simple unconvoluted reaction against ornate rhetoric. He presents himself as something of a performer. No humble petitioner, he wants to be known. So the theme of the immortalizing power of poetry is well represented (e.g., #6).

His most dramatic and cheekiest poem is #61, "Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part." The piece offers good evidence that sometimes sonnets were show-off works, more to impress other 1590s sonneteers than any particular woman.

Drayton, Michael. Idea excerpts. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1. 8th ed. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. 999-1002.