Is this Propaganda in Disguise?

         The OED defines propaganda as “any association, systematic scheme, or concerted movement for the propagation of a particular doctrine or practice”. Moreover, it adds that the propagation of information is carried out “by an interested party, esp. in a tendentious way in order to encourage or instill a particular attitude or response”

Literature in any form is a great way to disguise what a writer wants you to believe so they can gain your trust for their benefit. In Drayton’s Ode. To the Virginian Voyage, Drayton’s main purpose is to present Virginia to England as an ideal place filled with lush and rich land, as seen in line 27  “ And the fruitfull’st Soyle”, his aim potentially was to in turn get the backing from the Queen to pursue future travel and possibly the colonization of the land.  In the prose, Drayton’s slips in the name of Richard Hakluyt in line 68. “Industrious Hackluit.” Hackliut was a great supporter of travel to the New World who compiled explorer’s travels into a book. Did using Hackliut uncover new confidence needed by English explorers not to give up in finding the New World worthy of colonization?  Drayton’s prose and Raleigh works where great tools to find reluctant investors. By declaring on paper and using maps and words such as in line 30 “All greater than your Wish” to lure and create a sense of excitement and curiosity was a propaganda tool so important to the growth and expansion of England’s territory worldwide.

 In researching Drayton’s ode I found a bit of information that is very interesting.  In 1607 the London Company set out on three ships, the Godspeed, Discovery, and the Sarah Constant to “Earth’s only paradise’, Virginia. Drayton wrote a prose to the group of Englishmen traveling on these ships. I read that the passengers sang during their four and half month journey.

Britons, you stay too long, 


Quickly aboard bestow you, 


And with a merry gale,


Swell your stretched sail, 


With vows as strong 


As the winds that blow you.



Your course securely steer,


West and by South forth keep; 


Rocks, lee shores nor shoals, 
Where Eolus scowls,


You need not fear,



So absolute the deep.


And cheerfully at sea 
Success you still entice, 


To get the pearl and gold,


And ours to hold VIRGINIA,

 
Earth's only paradise!


And in regions far

 
Such heroes bring ye forth 


As those from whom we came; 
And plant our name


Under that star


Not known unto our north

So, can it be safely said that Drayton’s Ode. To the Virginian Voyage was a successful propaganda tool? It obviously enticed the King to fund the trip and to spark the interest to those Englishmen to travel thousands of miles to Virginia sight unseen.

Maps were also an important tool not only for navigational purpose but also to lure people to unknown land for the benefit of the mother country. Looking at a map was a form of communication, which can hide a hidden agenda.  Within the maps borders cartographers scripted symbols that had hidden meanings. Maps provided communication between the ruler of a country and his people. From May 1607 to the fall of 1609, Captain John Smith was a leader of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Smith explored the area zealously and described Virginia in vivid detail in letters, reports and maps. (Novus Orbis: Images of the New World part 3) Was it fair that cartographers used deceit to make their kingdom more valuable? Diogo Riberio’s 1529 world map, drawn for King Charles V of Spain, drew the lucrative Molucca spice islands incorrectly to place them in Spain’s sphere of influence. (Jardine, 1996, p. 274).