On Monsieur's Departure

Female voiced Petrarchan lyric, she has fallen victim to unrequited love.
1. As a queen was she expected/ allowed to adopt unconventional genres, adopting a masculine genre gives her a 'masculinised identity'.
Tensions between public and private self shown through use of oxymoron's. Central dilemma is with emotions and this does evoke pity on the reader.
1. "I grieve and dare not show my discontent"
2. "I love and yet am forced to seem to hate."
3. "I freeze and yet am burned."
  1. Heat imagery common of Petrarchan poetry.
The 'and' of the first stanza, changes to 'let' in the final stanza, she wants to be able to settle her emotions.
1. Wants freedom of choice or emotions, or is this symbolic of wanting to choose between public and private emotions, she cannot handle both duties involved in being Queen.
Political and Personal: Reflections on failed marriage negotiations with Duke of Anjou.
1. Meditation on Anjou or it has been attributed to Dudley.
  1. Private: Dudley
  2. Public: Anjou
Care has multiple meanings on it's use in the second stanza: anxiety/torment/ Anjou, public duty as queen.
1. Duties/ feeling compared to a shadow: cannot be escaped "follows me".
Fragility of queen depicted is different to her public image: "i am soft, and made of melting snow". snow is cold.

Resource summary

	Created by shanbutler over 8 years ago