The Threat of Mary Stuart
Referred to as “the daughter of debate” Mary Stuart—Elizabeth’s half-sister with her own claim to the throne—figures prominently in “The Doubt of Future Foes.” Though related through blood, Elizabeth casts Mary in the titular role of foe in this poem. Mary also rises to the level of thematic strain as a result of at least two poems by Elizabeth which are only known to be hers because she actually carved them into a window while Mary had her imprisoned.
Love and Duty
“On Monsieur’s Departure” outlines in the opening salvo what it meant for Elizabeth to try to love while also being expected by an entire population—or at least the Protestant half—to fall in love enough to ensure a Protestant heir: “I grieve and dare not show my discontent.” Elizabeth is only credited with 15 poems and there is a possibility that fewer were actually composed by her just as there is also a possibility that significantly more were composed by her. What is there is usually concerned with the harshness of reality and not poetic flights of fancy and one the recurring thematic expressions of reality is the discomfort of being placed in a position where the private act of falling in love becomes the public spectacle for monarchs.
Fate and Fortune
Elizabeth seems to be acutely aware of how her fate and the fate of others is inextricably tied to the provenance of fortune. The opening words of “Written on a Wall at Woodstock” are “O Fortune, how they restless wavering State.” Another very short poem (two lines) actually bears the ironic title “In Defiance of Fortune.” Another poem, titled “Written in a French Psalter” takes to task the effect on fate of suspicious minds wrongly informed.
