The Doubt of Future Foes by Queen Elizabeth I: The Outraged Thoughts of a Proud Queen

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One might second guess poetry written by the Queen of England while others might be intrigued by it. During Queen Elizabeth’s challenging reign as Queen, she faced many burdensome obstacles. In her poem, “The Doubt of Future Foes”, she describes a significant one which involved her sister, Mary of Scots. She expresses her condescending and disgusted attitude toward her tenacious sister by using picturesque language. The inspiration for this poem, Mary had been living under her sister’s protection in England after being removed from the Scottish throne. Subsequently, Catholic Scots wished to replace Elizabeth with Mary. Then, Sir Anthony Babington and other Catholics made a plot attempt to place Mary on the English throne, but the plot was shortly unsealed by Elizabeth. Mary was then executed for her awareness of the plot. To retell these series of events, Elizabeth uses figurative language, imagery, and symbolism to reveal her utmost disappointment in Mary. The Queen uses figurative language, which makes the reader ponder about the more profound meaning and artistic quality of the poem. She uses personification in line 4, “which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web”. This shows that Elizabeth is trapped in an unavoidable, convoluted situation with no distinct way out. The word, wisdom evokes a sense of wrongness. She would not be stuck in this complex predicament if people used correct judgment instead of attempting to rebel against her. Elizabeth is using alliteration to question her foes. She is really saying: “Why are opponents using poor and reckless judgment and doing the wrong things to solve their problem? Instead of doing this, they should be using common sense and righteous solutions.” Using alliterati... ... middle of paper ... ...he word, rusty connotes that she has to deal with these kinds of problems regularly, though not as significant as this particular one, but will continue to protect her kingdom from any kind of corruption. In this poem, Queen Elizabeth not only conveys a real-life situation powerfully, but she does it artistically through the use of figurative language, imagery and symbolism. Throughout this constantly shifting poem, she builds up tension for the reader which unfortunately for herself, never ends. With a threat at every corner of her kingdom, the reader begins to realize how difficult it is being the Queen of England. Yet, the Queen knows it is her responsibility for keeping her kingdom peaceful and will be faithful and fierce in keeping it that way using heavy expenditures of time, effort, and energy. Works Cited "The Doubt of Future Foes" by Queen Elizabeth I

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