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Queen
Elizabeth I:
"The Doubt of Future Foes," "On Monsieur's
Departure" and "Speech to the Troops at Tilbury."
Vocabulary:
Renaissance, oxymoron, enallage
Introduction:
What is significant about the years 1558-1603? What are
some of the interesting ways Queen Elizabeth depicted hersaelf
in art, speeches, and literature?
Lecture or Handouts:
Handout on Henry
VIII's wives.
Identify the Following People
Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Mary, Queen of Scots.
Reading Questions:
- "The Doubt of Future Foes"
- What exiles the speaker's present joy, or makes her
unhappy?
- Elizabeth uses the word "doubt" in an unusual
way in the opening lines of her poem. What does she mean
by "doubt"?
- What does Elizabeth claim will never anchor in this
port [London]?
- What is a wight?
- Elizabeth refers to England's sword as "rusty sword
with rest." What does she mean by this image? What
does she imply about England's prior political state before
the threat of future foes appeared?
- What is the first "employment" or task this
sword will have? (I.e., what does it mean "to poll
the tops" of those who seek change in England's independence?
(Look up the word "poll" in an older dictionary
to find this meaning.)
- "On Monsieur's Departure"
- From the title, it appears the speaker is upset about
something. What event has inspired the poem, apparently?
What does the gender appear to be of the poetic speaker?
- The poem uses a series of oxymora
or contrasts to make its points in stanza one. List at
least one example of such an oxymoron.
- In stanza two, the speaker compares her cares to a shadow.
Why is a shadow an appropriate image, according to the
content of stanza two?
- In stanza three, why does the speaker claim she is made
"of melting snow"? How is that image of something
once cold but now turning hot appropriate for the situation?
- What does the poetic speaker mean when she commands
her implied audience, "be more cruel, love, and so
be kind"?
- In the concluding lines, the speaker hopes for one of
two events to happen. What is the first event she hopes
might happen? If that doesn't occur, what is the second
event she hopes will happen so she can forget her love?
- Speech to The British Troop at Tilbury
- What, according to Elizabeth, has always been her chief
strength and safeguard? How does this contrast with the
fear Tyrants must always feel?
- Elizabeth claims that her body is but that "of
a weak and feeble woman," but she also claims to
have two body parts of a king. What are those two body
parts?
- What does Elizabeth say she will personally "take
up" in response to those who dishonor her by invading
the borders of her realm?
- What two things does Elizabeth say her troops deserve
for their bravery and loyalty?
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