Tudor & Elizabethan
Walter Davison
Walter Davison (born 1581) was the youngest son of William Davison, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, and the brother of Francis Davison, who edited A Poetical Rhapsody (1602). He was serving as a soldier in the Low Countries in 1602, and his brother says he was not eighteen when he wrote the poems, which were printed without his knowledge.
A. H. Bullen's edition (1890–91) assigns to him the 'Roundelay' among the pastorals and the sonnets, odes and elegy that open the second volume (Rhapsody, ii. 1–20), which end with the signature 'W. D.'.
Poems (19)
- A Roundelay
- Sonnet I: He Demands Pardon for Looking, Loving, and Writing
- Sonnet II: Love in Justice Punishable Only with Like Love
- Sonnet III: He Calls His Ears, Eyes, and Heart as Witnesses of Her Sweet Voice, Beauty, and Inward Virtuous Perfections
- Sonnet IV: Praise of Her Eyes, Excelling All Comparison
- Ode I: His Lady to Be Condemned of Ignorance or Cruelty
- Sonnet V: Contention of Love and Reason for His Heart
- Sonnet VI: That She Hath Greater Power over His Happiness and Life than Either Fortune, Fate, or Stars
- Sonnet VII: Of His Lady's Weeping
- Sonnet VIII: He Paints Out His Torment
- Ode II: A Dialogue between Him and His Heart
- Sonnet IX: His Sighs and Tears Are Bootless
- Sonnet X: Her Beauty Makes Him Love Even in Despair
- Sonnet XI: Why Her Lips Yield Him No Words of Comfort
- Sonnet XII: Comparison of His Heart to a Tempest-Beaten Ship
- Elegy: To His Lady, Who Had Vowed Virginity
- Sonnet XIII: That He Cannot Leave to Love, though Commanded
- Sonnet XIV: He Desires Leave to Write of His Love
- Dust Is Lighter than a Feather