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A Sonnet by Elizabeth I

"On Monsieur's Departure"

  By Elizabeth I

  Reprinted in Elizabeth I: Collected Works

  Published by the University of Chicago Press, 2000

From the very beginning of her reign, Elizabeth I (1533–1603) took care to project a public image of strength and authority. England's position in 1558, when Elizabeth took power, was far from secure. A small country with a weak economy and deep internal conflicts, it faced significant economic and political competition from Europe. Furthermore, the queen, as a Protestant, was vulnerable to Catholic dissent, not only from within England but also from France and Spain, rival powers that were strongly anti-Protestant. And as a woman, she risked accusations that she lacked the ability to govern. To maintain her hold on power amid these challenges, it was necessary for the queen to show the world that she would not be a weak ruler.

Elizabeth surrounded herself with able advisors whose counsel she respected. This Privy Council, headed by William Cecil (Lord Burghley; 1520–1598), helped her to make decisions about governing the country. (The Privy Council is the board of advisors that carried out the administrative function of the government in matters of economy, defense, foreign policy, and law and order, and its members served as the queen's chief advisors.) One of the first things that the council urged the queen to do was to marry. Not only was it thought to be necessary that she give birth to an heir, but it was believed that she needed a husband to help her rule. The idea that a woman could rule on her own was unheard of.

"I love and yet am forced to seem to hate."

The young queen immediately attracted several suitors. Yet Elizabeth, determined not to let herself be manipulated by those who were struggling for power, treated these marriage proposals with caution. She had seen how much the English people had despised her sister's choice of husband, Philip II of Spain (1527–1598), whom they suspected of wanting to take over their country. When Philip asked for Elizabeth's hand, she promptly refused; she also rejected proposals from the king of Sweden and the archduke of Austria. Elizabeth knew that a foreign husband might pressure her to take official actions that would benefit his own country instead of England, and she wished to avoid this at all costs. An English husband would be more appropriate, but the queen considered most English suitors below her social rank. She also worried that, by marrying an English noble, she might worsen the political rivalries among the often quarrelsome lords. Furthermore, the man she apparently loved, Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester; 1532–1595), was already married.

In 1559, after Parliament, England's legislative body, had asked the queen to arrange a suitable marriage, she responded in a carefully worded speech of which two versions have been passed down. In one version, quoted in Elizabeth I: Collected Works, the queen states "I am already bound unto an husband, which is the kingdom of England." But she also reassured Parliament that "I will promise you to do nothing to the prejudice [harm] of the commonwealth, but as far as possible I may, will marry such an husband as shall be no less careful for the common good, than myself." Elizabeth thus indicated that she felt no compulsion to marry, but would keep the matter open.

Over the years Elizabeth used the possibility of a marriage as a political tool. She encouraged suitors when it would help her gain some advantage, but then dismissed them. Her relationship with François (Duke of Alençon; 1555–1584), heir to the French throne, for example, signaled her apparent willingness to forge an alliance with France. The duke had begun courting the queen in 1581, when hostilities were rapidly escalating between England and Spain. Since the 1570s, Philip II had been giving tentative support to Catholic rebels who hoped to overthrow Elizabeth and replace her with her Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart (Queen of Scots; 1542–1587). Lacking the military power to confront Spain directly, Elizabeth secretly allowed English ships to attack Spanish ships and territories in the Americas. These raids, she hoped, would restrict the flow of gold and silver into Spanish ports; they also provoked Philip's anger. In 1579 Spanish troops arrived in Ireland to aid the Desmond Rebellion, an uprising intended to expel the country's English overlords. As war with Spain drew closer at the beginning of the 1580s, Elizabeth acted as though she were giving serious consideration to François's proposal of marriage. Her actions sent a warning to Philip: though an alliance with France would be an extreme step for England because of the religious differences between the countries, Elizabeth was willing to take this step to strengthen her position against Spain. Though she acted as if her affection for François was genuine, after a few months the forty-seven-year-old queen rejected the much younger duke. He was her last serious suitor.

Elizabeth was careful about revealing her private emotions to the world. Whatever she really felt about romantic love and marriage, in public she expressed the conviction that she always acted according to what was best for the country instead of following her own desires. In this way, she emphasized the sacrifices she made for the English people. She portrayed herself as a ruler entirely devoted to her kingdom, willing to give up husband and children for the sake of her country.

Elizabeth's poem "On Monsieur's Departure" expresses the profound division she felt between her personal life and her public life. It is not certain exactly when Elizabeth wrote this work. Exceptionally well educated, the queen had been accustomed to expressing herself in writing from at least age eleven. After she became queen her writing focused primarily on government matters, but she continued to write occasional poems as well. Poetry could provide both intellectual stimulation and emotional release. Poetry was also an ideal medium through which to express the doubts and conflicts that are so often a part of romantic love.

English writers in the 1500s were beginning to take poetry in new directions. They were growing impatient with earlier poetic forms, which they considered too stiff and formal. Inspired by Greek and Latin literature, they were also familiar with new developments in poetry from France and Italy and hoped to incorporate these into English literature. Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542) and Henry Howard (Earl of Surrey; 1517–1547), for example, translated the sonnets of Italian writer Petrarch (1304–1374) into English. They also experimented with writing sonnets of their own. Philip Sidney (1554–1586) expanded on the form of the English sonnet, and urged his fellow poets to recognize the creative potential of the English language to express emotion. Fluent in several languages and passionately interested in the arts, the queen kept up with such developments in literature and, in her own writings, experimented with various poetic forms.

"On Monsieur's Departure" reveals some of the most representative themes and structures of sixteenth-century English lyric poetry. The poem focuses on one of the era's central literary themes: unrequited love. A tradition in English poetry since the Middle Ages (c. 500–c. 1500), this theme idealizes a love that can never be fulfilled, showing it to be a symbol of perfect devotion. "On Monsieur's Departure" fits within this tradition, expressing the writer's love for an unnamed person with whom she can never be united. This unrequited love creates a deep division between what the writer feels and how the writer must act. The poem emphasizes the contrasts in the writer's situation by employing the devices of paradox (a statement that is seemingly contradictory, but may actually be true, such as "It is often kinder to be cruel"), and oxymoron (a figure of speech that brings strong contrasts together, such as "wise fool"). Metaphoric language, which creates an image comparing one thing to another, reveals the many emotional contrasts with which the writer must cope. The first stanza, or group of lines that form a section of a poem, for example, shows that the writer is heartbroken that she has turned away from her loved one. But she "dare not show my discontent." Her outward behavior is opposite to what she really feels; she notes, "I freeze and yet am burned."

Though poems do not necessarily refer to real events and people in the writer's life, historians believe that "On Monsieur's Departure" is autobiographical. In it, Elizabeth mourns a deep love that she felt compelled to reject, and she expresses her regret at having to subordinate her private life to the demands of her role as monarch. Many scholars assume that the poem refers to Dudley, the queen's oldest and closest friend; in their view, he alone held such an intimate place in Elizabeth's affections. But others believe that the poem is about the queen's decision not to marry François of France. Though the poem is usually dated about 1582, it is not known exactly when it was written. The fact that it was published during the queen's lifetime, however, suggests that even if she had written it earlier as a private expression of her feelings, she later chose to make it public because it would enhance her image. Alternatively, it is possible that she intended from the start to use the poem as part of her ongoing efforts to gain approval from her subjects. In any case, the poem artfully conveys the divided self that Elizabeth felt defined her as queen.

Things to remember while reading "On Monsieur's Departure":

• Though Queen Elizabeth was pressured to marry, she chose to rule alone.
• The queen controlled her public image with great care. In her writings she described herself as a monarch who put her country's interests above her private life.
• The poem "On Monsieur's Departure" expresses the queen's sadness about rejecting a lover. It also expresses the conflict between her private wishes and her public role.

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 but inwardly do prate [chatter foolishly]
    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 [regret] it.
  No means I find to rid him from my breast,
  Till by the end of things it be suppressed.
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.

What happened next …

There are various theories about why Elizabeth never married. Some historians believe that she may have feared dying in childbirth. Others point out that she may have been traumatized by her father's behavior as a husband; he had ordered his second wife, Anne Boleyn (c. 1507–1536), Elizabeth's mother, beheaded for treason. (He also executed his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.) The queen may also have wished to retain control of the wealth she had inherited from her father. If she had married, it would all have passed to her husband.

The image that Elizabeth presented of herself as the "Virgin Queen," married only to her people, made her extraordinarily popular. The English people cherished the idea that their monarch was devoted only to their welfare, and that she would subordinate her personal wishes for the good of the country. This popular support helped maintain the country's political stability despite several serious problems during Elizabeth's reign, including rising prices for consumer goods and a large national debt created by campaigns in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland, as well as its prolonged war with Spain in the 1580s. Though many of her subjects were eager for change by the time of her death, Elizabeth never lost the support and affection of the English people. Centuries after her death, she is still remembered as one of England's most popular and influential rulers.

Did you know …

• Elizabeth was fluent in several languages. She wrote poems in French and Latin as well as English.

• In 1554 and 1555, while imprisoned for suspected treason against Mary I, the princess Elizabeth scratched a two-line poem onto a glass window. She used a diamond to shape the letters. The poem, quoted in Elizabeth I: Collected Works, reads: "Much suspected by me, / Nothing proved can be." It was signed "Elizabeth the prisoner."

• "On Monsieur's Departure" is sometimes called a sonnet. Though it is very similar to that type of poem, it is not a true sonnet because it does not conform to sonnet structure. Sonnets contain fourteen lines and are usually organized as either two stanzas, one of eight lines and one of six lines, or as three four-line stanzas followed by a rhymed couplet.

Consider the following …

• If Elizabeth originally wrote "On Monsieur's Departure" knowing that she would make it public, why might she have chosen to communicate her feelings in a poem rather than an ordinary speech?
• Make a list of paradoxes and oxymorons that are relevant to a theme that is important to you. You may wish to take the queen's poem as a model. How does the process of creating these figures of speech change the way you think about this theme?

For More Information

BOOKS

Doran, Susan. Queen Elizabeth I. New York: New York University Press, 2003.

Marcus, Leah S., Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose, eds. Elizabeth I: Collected Works. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

WEB SITES

"Elizabeth I." http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/elizabethi.htm (accessed on July 24, 2006).

"Elizabeth I." History of the Monarchy. http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page46.asp (accessed on July 24, 2006).

"Eve's Daughters: The Voices of English Renaissance Women." The Worlds of the Renaissance Projects, 2000. http://www.albertrabil.com/projects2000/walters/part%206.html (accessed on July 24, 2006).