Elizabeth I
When I was a teenager, I became OBSESSED with Elizabeth I. Any chance I got to write a paper about her, read books about her-either fiction or non-fiction-I was a happy kid. All the movies about her, yeah, I watched them. I could not get enough of the Virgin Queen. But was she a virgin? My romantic self refuses to believe this.
I recently looked through some of my old school papers and found a poetry analysis I did of a poem written by Elizabeth I, “On Monsieur’s Departure.” The paper received a 93 (an A, sadly not one of my A+ papers) and was written in 2006, my senior year in high school. I thought it would be fun to post the poem along with my analysis as it was written by me all those years ago. However, after re-reading my paper, I decided not to embarrass myself.
Instead, read below the poem written by Elizabeth I and a brief history of her life.
On Monsieur’s Departure
I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly to prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned.
Since from myself another self I turned. My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest. Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
For I am soft and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die and so forget what love ere meant. Original Text Bodleian Library MS. Tanner 76, fol. 162. Poems, ed. Leicester Bradner (Providence, R.I., Brown University Press, 1964): 5, 73-74. Publication Start Year: 1582
Elizabeth I – An Inspirational Woman
“I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too” The British Library – Elizabeth’s Tilbury speech
The quote above is from a real speech Elizabeth I gave before going into battle. What a badass woman! As the second woman to take the throne of England, her journey to the crown was not an easy one. For those who don’t know Tudor history, Elizabeth was the second surviving child of King Henry VIII. Everyone knows who that is, right? But before Elizabeth, before Henry married her mother, Anne Boleyn, Henry had another daughter.
Mary, Henry’s only surviving child with his first wife Catherine of Aragon, became the first female monarch of England. She was known as “Bloody Mary” for her ruthlessness towards Protestants. When Henry met Anne, who promised to give him a male heir, he broke with the Pope and Catholicism to divorce his first wife and marry Anne. He became a Protestant, laying the foundations for the Church of England. This most assuredly was a reason behind Mary’s bloody rule against protestants.
Elizabeth’s early life and rule in England were made difficult because of the conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants in the country. When she became queen after her half-sister’s death, many wanted Elizabeth dead and a Catholic monarch back on the throne. She survived the impossible. With no father or mother to protect her, she fought against the odds and she won every time, ruling England for forty-five years.
Marriage was a popular topic for every woman at that time. Being a woman and the monarch, Elizabeth was also expected to marry. She didn’t. Though many speculate that she had lovers, she left no heirs after her death. What she did leave behind was a peaceful country overflowing with culture. The Elizabethan era is now known as the golden age in English history.
Even though women have it much easier in today’s world, I think we can still relate to Elizabeth. A woman who succeeded to power, ruling one of the most powerful countries in the world, she needed to always be on her best behavior. She was not a man. She was not a king, though she had all the king’s powers.
Imagine if Elizabeth acted as her father did, sleeping around, changing religions to get a divorce, beheading his wives for adultery-what a hypocrite-, drinking, galavanting. A woman needs to be 1000x better than a man to receive the same respect. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for Elizabeth, being the daughter of a woman Henry VIII beheaded, a Protestant ruler among Catholic subjects, a woman among men, alone. No wonder she sought refuge in poetry and art.
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend reading Philippa Gregory’s books about Tudor history, The Virgin’s Lover in particular.
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