Raleigh, or Ralegh, had come a long way
Following his time as a landlord in Ireland Raleigh was instrumental in the English colonisation of North America and was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, paving the way for future English settlements. However, despite many legends, he never travelled to North America.
In 1591, he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, without the Queen's permission, for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. After his release, they retired to his estate at Sherborne, Dorset.
In 1594, Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed to the legend of "El Dorado". After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was again imprisoned in the Tower, this time for being involved in the Main Plot against King James I, who was not favourably disposed towards him. In 1616, he was released to lead a second expedition in search of El Dorado. During the expedition, men led by his top commander ransacked a Spanish outpost, in violation of both the terms of his pardon and the 1604 peace treaty with Spain. Raleigh returned to England and, to appease the Spanish, he was arrested and executed in 1618.
Three decades after the massacre at Smerwick, when Raleigh had fallen from favour, his involvement was brought against him as a criminal charge in one of his trials. Raleigh argued that he was "obliged to obey the commands of his superior officer" but he was unable to exonerate himself. He was executed on 29 October 1618, chiefly for his involvement in the Main Plot.
What does the poem 'The Lie' by Sir Walter Raleigh mean?
Karyth Cara @ e notes writes:
Possibly writing while imprisoned in 1592 by England's Queen Elizabeth I, Ralegh blasts the supposed righteousness and might of England's governing and socio-cultural institutions. These institutions are those that permitted him to be imprisoned by his sovereign--whom he believed he had dutifully served--and others that failed to come to his defense. These governing and socio-cultural institutions range from Queen Elizabeth I's royal court to her courtiers "who brave it"--chiefly Elizabeth's new favorite, the Earl of Essex , Robert Devereux (or Essex)--to charity to wisdom to schools to love and, finally, to faith, manhood and virtue.
Ralegh devastates the superficial facade of each by naming what the institution professes to be, then, with bitter irony, proclaiming what it really is. For example, charity is "coldness," wisdom is overblown, brave courtiers are ease seekers, and virtue is "least preferred." The meaning of the poem--written at a time when Elizabeth I refused to accept Ralegh back into her favor--conveys Ralegh's retaliatory condemnation of those who condemned him thus compelling him to expose how false they all are. Since giving an accusation of falseness (equivalent to being said to lack truth, honor and valor) required a to-the-death challenge in Ralegh's time, he sends his "soul" to safely deliver the messages of condemnation for him.
To "Give Someone the Lie"
The premise of "The Lie," which is integral to the meaning of the poem, is that when the accused governing and socio-cultural institutions named in the poem deny the accusations charged against them, then the "soul," directed by the poetic persona, Ralegh himself, is to "give them the lie." This is an archaic (no longer known or used) expression that accused a person of being false and that was equivalent to proffering a challenge to a duel; it was a serious undertaking to "give a person the lie." In an era when a person's honor was inextricably tied to their courage to speak truthful words, to accuse someone of a lie was to accuse them of being dishonorable, cowardly and a liar. Duels were fought to resolve an affront as great as this, comprising as it does an attack against three of the highest virtues someone of Ralegh's era could possess. In "The Lie" Ralegh is setting forth the truth about the falseness of the institutions named and defying them to contradict his pronouncements.
Say to the court, it glows
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church, it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.
The first institutions Ralegh accuses are the foremost institutions of "the court" and "the church." While it might be tempting to think "court" means the Elizabethan justice system, that understanding would be incongruous for two reasons. First, Ralegh was not tried before his imprisonment under Elizabeth (he was later under James I). It was Elizabeth herself who order him sent to the Tower immediately upon his return in answer to her summons. Second, a judicial court of law is not readily described as "glowing" although a royal monarchical court is readily described as glowing and shinning. Therefore, while a case could readily be made that the Elizabethan judicial system was "rotten," "The Lie" presents a more compelling denunciation of the times if "court" is understood to mean the royal court of the English monarch.
What does Ralegh say, then, about the Elizabethan royal court? This is where Ralegh introduces the poetic device of irony, with a deeply bitter tone, that describes something by metaphorically associating it with the worst possible and opposite comparison that could be made. In his bitterly ironic accusation against the royal court, he says it "glows," but like "rotten wood" glows. If you've ever seen rotten wood, you know that it does not glow or "shine"; saying rotten wood glows or shines is bitterly ironic. Rotten wood has a disintegrated, crumbling surface that reflects only it's decomposing interior. Rotten wood is dull, not reflective; reflectivity is a needed quality for glow or shine. Rotten wood is crumbling and splintering; it is highly unappealing; it is the antithesis of that which "glows / And shines."
Tell potentates, they live
Acting by others' action;
Not loved unless they give,
Not strong but by a faction.
If potentates reply,
Give potentates the lie.
A potentate is a great and powerful sovereign ruler, like a monarch (the term is considered out-of-date for today's rulers). Here, Ralegh separates Queen Elizabeth from her court at large so he can deliver a few significant words pointed directly at her, although her identity is disguised and euphemized in the generalized term "potentate." As an aside, what Ralegh says here argues for "The Lie" having been written after his 1593 release from the Tower, perhaps a 1594 date, which would accord well with the first manuscript evidence. While in the Tower, he was trying to win back Elizabeth I's favor and would not have been likely to want to risk his diatribe falling into her hands thus cutting off all his chances of regaining favor. This argument complements the one pointing out that after his release Elizabeth I took nearly all the profit from the booty taken off the Madre de Dios (the Portuguese merchant ship or carrack taken earlier by Ralegh), leaving him almost penniless along with being exiled from court, which was virtually the same as being left without opportunities for monetary income.
The first bitterly ironic thing Ralegh says about "potentates" (meaning Queen Elizabeth I) is that "they live / Acting by others' action." This is a double-meaning word-play. It can mean that, acting, they pretend to be great while others perform great actions: they live vicariously doing nothing themselves, and they take credit for the real actions of others. It can also mean that, governing, they take actions as rulers (enact laws, imprison people, give favored ones advancement, etc) based on the revelations exposed by the real-life actions of others (govern based on the reports and council of those who have real experience of conflict with other kingdoms, etc). Then, with more bitter irony, Ralegh accuses potentates of being unloved in themselves but loved only because of their gifts: if not for their gifts of wealth and privilege, potentates would be unloved. He further ironically and bitterly asserts that the strength of the potentate (i.e., Elizabeth I) is illusionary and exists only because a faction of the aristocracy places the potentate in power and safeguards that power: "Not strong but by a faction."
Tell faith it's fled the city;
Tell how the country erreth;
Tell manhood shakes off pity
And virtue least preferreth:
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.
In the last four accusations that Ralegh makes, he summarily restates the essence of his entire accusatory argument. To summarily restate something means to restate what's been discussed in a brief, concise manner with few words; to restate a discussion in a narrow compass of expressions (narrow compass: narrow range of ideas and words) in order to bring the message home to the listener, in order to make the message evident and clear. What Ralegh has to say about "faith," "country," "manhood," "virtue" and fleeing, erring, pity and preferring encapsulate all that he has said above. He can do this summarily because of the depth of meaning in each word he chooses.
"Tell faith it’s fled the city"
"Faith" is (1) belief in religious scriptures, which affect someone's life and traits; (2) loyalty, fidelity to promises and allegiance to duty; (3) agreement to truth based on someone's veracity; trust or confidence in someone's intentions. To flee ("fled" past tense) is to run away in an alarmed and cowardly way in order to avoid or escape danger. Ralegh says that personified faith--which includes religious faith, faith in someone's loyalty and allegiance, faith in honorable intentions--has fled, like a frightened coward, from the city, meaning London and symbolizing Elizabeth I. Her court, the schools, brilliant wits, the church and virtue, all the things Ralegh accuses are also encompassed in the deep symbolism underlying "faith."
"Tell how the country erreth"
To err, "erreth," is (1) to be mistaken or to offend; (2) to stray or to blunder in intellectual truth, judgement and opinion; (3) to go off from a true course; to wander and roam without a path of duty, rectitude or morality. Ralegh laments that the country, England under Elizabeth's reign, is mistaken and offends; has blundered and strayed from intellectual truth and sound judgement; is wandering about devoid of duty, religion, morality. This lamenting accusation is aimed at great men, at schools, teachers, the arts, at Elizabeth's loyalty and duty to her friends, at the church's pretensions of good and charity, just to name a few.
"Tell manhood shakes off pity"
"Manhood" is (1) being a man, no longer a child; a male human being endowed with virtue, plagued with vice; (2) a man's endowment with qualities of courage, bravery, resolve, steadfastness. To "shake off" is to get rid of something, to disassociate yourself from something, to disavow something. "Pity" is (1) religious reverence, piety; (2) compassion for the suffering of others; commiseration; (3) something that prompts or causes grief or regret. Ralegh accuses men of Elizabeth's realm of disassociating themselves from, of disavowing association with pity as religious piety, as compassion, as regret or grief over having erred. Ralegh calls up the images invoked earlier of cold charity, pretentious religion, rotted wood, factious potentates, love and flesh that are dust, beauty that blasts and blights, a society of irrelevant men who "brave it" for "commending" but who coldly, actively renounce and reject pity in all its forms.
"Tell virtue least preferreth"
"Virtue" is (1) (obsolete) a man's valor and courage; (2) a man's meritoriousness, his worth; (3) a man's integrity, spiritual purity; honoring of duty; loyalty; morality. "Preferreth," preferring or to prefer, is (1) (archaic) someone receiving a recommendation or gaining favor (as Ralegh hoped to gain a renewal of Queen Elizabeth's favor); (2) someone selecting or choosing what is of higher worth, esteem or value; (3) someone gaining a higher rank in dignity, office or honor. Ralegh asserts that a man's courage, worth, integrity, purity and loyalty (and, yes, he means "a man's" because in his society, those were attributes defining men, not women), a man's "virtue," was not the basis for preferring, for gaining favor or rank--it was not the basis of selection, of what was chosen as good, valuable, worthy of esteem.
With these words, Ralegh hearkens back to all his earlier words to the soul, words about the thanklessness of the errand; about the court's rottenness; about the failures of justice, law, friendship, charity; about the falseness of nature, wit, beauty; about the decay of zeal, flesh, wisdom. He hearkens back to his caution: "Fear not to touch the best." Through this stanza, Ralegh hearkens back to and in few words reiterates all he has said before, and Ralegh tells the soul that if these dare reply, do not spare them the accusation of falseness: "if they do reply, / Spare not to give the lie."
