Discovering poetry: Samuel Daniel and the art of outliving death

from Delia

When winter snows upon thy golden hairs,
And frost of age hath nipped thy flowers near;
When dark shall seem thy day that never clears,
And all lies withered that was held so dear;
   Then take this picture which I here present thee,
Limned with a pencil not all unworthy;
Here see the gifts that God and Nature lent thee;
Here read thyself, and what I suffered for thee.
   This may remain thy lasting monument,
Which happily posterity may cherish;
These colours with thy fading are not spent;
These may remain, when thou and I shall perish.
   If they remain, then thou shalt live thereby;
   They will remain, and so thou canst not die.

Nicholas Hilliard’s miniature portraits are bewitchingly beautiful. Look at one today and it’s easy to feel that we connect with the subject in a way we don’t with a full-size painting. The informality of the poses helps (like a snapshot taken with a camera-phone) but so does the size.