Sir Walter Raleigh: In Life & Legend (28 page)

Much critical attention has been paid to the twelve-years war that Ralegh claims to have waged with Elizabeth and it has been taken to date the poem to 1592. It may do so or it may not: this is not an autobiographical poem and the narrative breaks off to describe his feeling of loss after Cynthia's rejection:

He tries in vain to remove her memory from his mind, finding that her beauty outlasts the effects of time like

He insists that Cynthia is almost perfect, 'free from evry yevill but crueltye'. Then his mood swings again:

However, the poet comes to realize that change is inevitable: 'butt as tyme gave, tyme did agayne devoure'. All nature declines and decays in the end: steel rusts; the most solid tree rots. Our treasures and tokens are banished as affection dies and once it has gone there is no hope of its return. The poet could not change himself and continues to love:

But Cynthia's love was gone, and she had become

and he is torn apart:

He continues to praise her - 'Devin in wordes, angellicall in voyse' - but realizes that 'shee cares not ffor thy prayse' and remembers only his offence. Then, suddenly, he turns again to praise, remembering his love for her:

His love remains strong, though 'buried bee the joy'. His passion is revived in his memory. While the slights he has endured would cure the passions of others, his love is of a special kind. It is

Twice now he has denied that time can have its usual effect: his love is immune to its power. In a powerful metaphor he compares the effect of his love to an earthquake:

The poet has swung from asserting that his love is more durable than other men's to confessing that it is false. His poem becomes even more complex and opaque than before; but seems to be dissolving into resignation:

He ends with a couplet that sums up the entire poem: