1. Elizabeth I was the dominant political and cultural figure of the period that came to be named in her honor. A scholar, a public leader, an unmarried woman, and a writer, she defied the misogynistic climate into which she was born. Her writing includes several speeches delivered on state occasions as well as translations and poems about her political and private life.
Her tutor, Roger Ascham, wrote to his friend Jacob Strum in 1550 describing the young princess' intellect. "Her mind has no womanly weakness, her perseverance is equal to that of a man, and her memory long keeps that it quickly picks up" ( 210). Under his direction Elizabeth received the finest humanist education that the Renaissance offered. Thus, in her knowledge of Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and German, the future queen received the foundation that the humanists believed was the preparation for public service.

2. Student examination of Elizabeth's Speech to the Troops at Tilbury (See document 1)

• Elizabeth expected the Spanish Armada to land although it was actually defeated at sea before reaching England. Appearing on the field with her soldiers as her audience, she displayed the courage and leadership that the English expected of a monarch but had not experienced in a woman. The defeat of the papally-financed Spanish Armada terminated the efforts of Philip II of Spain, the last pretender to the throne. Her resulting popularity elevated her to a level no English woman had enjoyed as a public figure. To her people she was not typical of her sex, and she became associated with the female power associated with such biblical and mythological figures as Judith, Esther, Diana, and Minerva (Gilbert 28).
• Elizabeth employs appeals to personal loyalty ( "I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people").
• She employs contrast ( "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king,).
• Elizabeth employs parallel construction throughout. ( "of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people" ).
• Some aspects of the speech actually coincide with the misogynistic view. By appealing to personal loyalty rather to rationality, she is behaving like a woman in the negative sense that anti-feminists believed that women lacked rationality. Similarly, by saying that she has the heart and mind of a king but the woman of a body, she is illustrating the idea that public utterance is the domain of men and that women who try to enter the realm of the masculine world actually violate the definition of femaleness.
• The masterful use of rhetorical devices, such as contrast and parallel structure, defy the misogynistic concept that women are incapable of rational thought. The positive response to her oration also challenges the idea that the public life must be the exclusive domain of men.

3. Student examination of "The Doubt of Future Foe" ( see document 2)

• Written in about 1568, the poem focuses on threats to the crown, most specifically from the queen's Catholic cousin Mary Queen of Scots and her followers. Mary's supporters were Catholics who challenged her reign because of Pope Clement VII's refusal to sanction the marriage of Elizabeth's parents, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. This pre-dates the speech at Tilbury by eighteen years. Here, the young queen equivocally declares that death is the punishment for seditious acts against her.
• The poem is written in iambic couplets in which the first line has twelve syllables and the second fourteen. The strong voice appeals to reason, not emotion; the subjects who are unfaithful do so because they are not ruled by reason or wisdom (ll.3-4).
• The images of weather (ll.5-6), of botany (ll.7-8), and of farming (ll.11-12) convey the logic of her message. Just as a subject lacking reason or wisdom, strays from his queen, the clouds of discontent yield rain, her enemies have grafted onto roots that will not cause them to thrive, and seeds of discord yield a bad harvest.
• The closing two couplets powerfully state that treason is not tolerated in England. Although she says that her sword is rusty, she will not hesitate to use it to "poll their tops that seek such change or gape for joy' (ll15-16).

4. Student examination of "On Monsieur's Departure" (see document 3)

• This poem reflects the personal world of Queen Elizabeth. Here the young queen sorrows at the departure of a young man who has captivated her heart. Monsieur may be either the French duke of Anjou, with whom she had negotiated marriage, or the earl of Essex, one of her favorites ( 29).
• Written in iambic pentameter, this poem is a study in contrasts. Students should read the poem as a statement of the two worlds in which Elizabeth must live: the public and the private. Because she is a monarch and must have absolute sway, she desires herself the luxury of expressing her sorrow in love.