The Silver poet’s sings of sighs in his own voice, even when deriving his inspiration from a common source. All were men of breeding and culture. All were courtiers and men of the world as well as poets, and in this, as in much else, they are typical of their times.
Three of them died young, three were tried for their lives on charges of treason, and two (unoffending victims of malice) were beheaded. Here again they present a true picture of their brilliant violent, high- minded, treacherous times.
They were ex-men of action as well as devoted scholars. In their life and careers, they come up to the Renaissance ideal of an accomplished gentleman. They were typical of the times, and they represent its gaiety, its extravagance, as well as its splendid living. As they were connected intimately with the court, their fortunes rose and fell with those of their patrons.