Sir Walter Raleigh

by Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau's account of Sir Walter Raleigh was published in 1905, having been "lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts." Thoreau features many of Raleigh's romantic poems, with helpful notes. Originally published exclusively for members of the Bibliophile Society which holds the copyright, it was edited by Henry Aiken Metcalf.

What makes a hero? An heroic mind
Expressed in action, in endurance proved:
And if there be pre-eminence of right,
Derived through pain well suffer'd, to the height
Of rank heroic, 'tis to bear unmoved,
Not toil, not risk, not rage of sea or wind,
Not the brute fury of barbarians blind,
But worse,—ingratitude and poisonous darts
Launched by the country he had served and loved.

Sir Henry Taylor, Heroism in the Shade.

Preface

Introduction by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn

Sir Walter Raleigh - Part I

Sir Walter Raleigh - Part II

Footnotes