On Monsieur's Departure facts for kids
"On Monsieur’s Departure" is an Elizabethan poem attributed to Elizabeth I. It is written in the form of a meditation on the failure of her marriage negotiations with Francis, Duke of Anjou, but has also been attributed to her alleged affair with, and love of, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.
Elizabeth I was unusually well-educated for a person of her time and wrote several poems, which seem to have been based on her life, in an era where courtly love was the European tradition. "On Monsieur’s Departure" is a poem in which the persona has fallen victim to unrequited love.
Contents
History
The poem was never published, but was found in a manuscript from ca. 1630, and titled "Elizabeth: On Monsieur's Departure". The connection with Francis, Duke of Anjou is thus a matter of some conjecture.
Full text
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 do 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 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 e'er meant.
Structure
The poem consists of three sestet stanzas, each in iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme following the ABABCC pattern.
Comparison
This poem differs from the poem "My Lute, Awake!" by Sir Thomas Wyatt, during the same time period. While they both portray unrequited love they portray it in a different manner. Elizabeth shares the responsibility with her lover and even knows of his pain. Yet in, "My Lute, Awake!" the author leaves all the blame to the woman that he desires and does not wish her well.
Sources
- Applebee, Arthur N., et al. The Language of Literature- British Literature. Boston: McDougal Littell, 2000.
