Explication The Doubt Of Future Foes Essays - Smallpox Survivors

Explication: The Doubt Of Future Foes EXPLICATION The Doubt of Future Foes by Queen Elizabeth I The doubt of future foes exiles my present joy, And wit me warns to shun such snares as threaten mine annoy. For falsehood now doth flow, and subject faith doth ebb, Which would not be, if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web. But clouds of toys untried do cloak aspiring minds, Which turn to rain of late repent, by course of changed winds. The top of hope supposed, the root of ruth will be, And fruitless all their graffed guiles, as shortly ye shall see. The dazzled eyes with pride, which great ambition blinds, Shall be unsealed by worthy wights whose foresight falsehood finds. The daughter of debate, that eke discord doth sow Shall reap no gain where former rule hath taught still peace to grow. No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port, Our realm it brooks no stranger's force, let them elsewhere resort. Our rusty sword with rest, shall first his edge employ To poll their tops that seek such change and gape for joy. Written in 1568 by one of England's most outstanding rulers, The Doubt of Future Foes captures a time of distress for Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth Jenkins, one of the great Queen's biographers, stated that Elizabeth was not poetical, but she shared that extraordinary gift of expression that was general among the English of the time, and once or twice she wrote some remarkable verse (Jenkens, Elizabeth the Great, 1958). In this particular remarkable verse, Elizabeth composed sixteen lines describing the troubled state of England and prophesied the fate of her enemies. Elizabeth uses alliteration in several lines, such as wisdom weaved the web and foresight falsehood finds, which reflects her well-educated and cultured background. However, the poem appears to be mainly a product of Elizabeth's struggles with adversaries and a threat to those who had the aspiring minds to attempt to remove her from the throne. The poem is written in octosyllabics: rhyming couplets with twelve syllables in the first line and fourteen syllables in the second line. This meter drums out a steady, forceful rhythm that further drills in the highly moralistic message of loyalty? or else. The first two lines state that Elizabeth's fear (doubt) about her enemies prevents her from being happy, and that if she were smart, she would ignore the traps those enemies had set in place to harm her with. Her cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, had been giving her cousin grief about Elizabeth's unfulfilled promise when Mary was imprisoned to help her regain her throne (and succeeded in labeling Elizabeth as a hypocrite), but Mary refused to acknowledge the fact that Elizabeth had saved her life countless times. Her cousin also had her eyes on the British crown and appealed to Elizabeth's sympathy to begin to win it. However, advised by Sir William Cecil that her cousin had an appetite to the Crown, she handled Mary's demands, such as for Elizabeth's own royal garments, with caution and limitation. At this point in history, Elizabeth was also angered that the northern Catholics had spurned her exceptionally tolerant religious policy. The Catholics had always wanted Elizabeth oust ed from the throne because she had committed the travesty of being Protestant, and they looked at anything controversial that she did as a way to get her out. Line three describes treachery and devotion as a wave that recedes and swells; at the present time, allegiance is short of hand and treason is a constant threat. However, Elizabeth states in line four that if people had intelligence and common sense, they would be loyal to her. She feels this way not only because of her religious beliefs, but also because of the simple fact that she is Queen. Her subjects may be rebellious now, when they feel they may have a chance at overthrowing her, but ultimately she is still in power and has a golden finger to direct their fate. She alludes to the impending tools and tricks that her adversaries will use against her as clouds that will fall as rain when her enemies change their minds and beg pardon. She also portrays their false fronts as a shoot grafted into the growing