Michael Drayton, (1563–1631), poet (and later, playwright), was born early in 1563 at Hartshill, near Atherstone, in north Warwickshire. His origins were humble and almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham, Nottinghamshire.

Drayton began composing his sonnet sequence, Idea’s Mirror, in 1594 and revised it frequently before publishing the final version in 1619 under the title Idea. Not the only work in which Drayton invokes “Idea” in the title, the “Mirror” alludes to an important figure in his life, Anne Goodyear, the daughter of his early patron, Sir Henry Goodyear. She and Drayton were childhood friends and when Anne later married Henry Rainsford, Drayton and he also became intimates. While her role as Idea allows Drayton to portray Anne in the conventional poetic dress of unattainable beloved, the sonnet cycle is above all a tribute to the intimate understanding of a friendship. (Carol Rumens, "Poem of the week: Sonnets from Idea's Mirror by Michael Drayton", The Guardian, 14 October 2019).

In the 1619 folio edition of his early poems, Poems by Michael Drayton Esquyer (dedicated to Sir Walter Aston), Drayton published the final version of Idea, the sonnet sequence which he had begun in 1594 and repeatedly revised over the years.

For ease of reading, information has been taken from: DNB entry by Anne Lake Prescott, Wikipedia, The Guardian, and The Poetry Foundation website.

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XLVIII.

CUPID, I hate thee, which I'd have thee know;
A naked starveling ever may'st thou be!
Poor rogue, go pawn thy fascia and thy bow
For some few rags wherewith to cover thee.
Or, if thou'lt not, thy archery forbear,
To some base rustic do thyself prefer,
And when corn's sown or grown into the ear,
Practise thy quiver and turn crow-keeper.
Or, being blind, as fittest for the trade,
Go hire thyself some bungling harper's boy;
They that are blind are often minstrels made;
So may'st thou live, to thy fair mother's joy,
That whilst with Mars she holdeth her old way,
Thou, her blind son, may'st sit by them and play.

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