When I Was Fair and Young I Grieve and Dare Not Show My Discontent No Crooked Leg

* When I Was Fair and Young She grieves the passing of her youth and her pride, which eventually left her alone. * I Grieve and Dare Not Show My Discontent Losing her last chance at marriage, Elizabeth laments that she must hide her true feelings behind her political mask. * No Crooked Leg As a young prisoner, Elizabeth learns that she can trust no one.

No crooked leg, no bleared eye, No part deformed out of kind, Nor yet so ugly half can be As is the inward suspicious mind.

Each of the three poems contains a simple, primarily, masculine rhyme scheme. This rhyme may, first, represent the tendency of the era’s poets to employ rhyme. The masculine form of the rhyme, however, demonstrates the simple need of Elizabeth I—a trustworthy companion.

The masculine rhyme scheme in When I Was Fair and Young emphasizes how Elizabeth’s youthful pride eliminated a simple, basic need in her life—love.

No crooked leg, no bleared eye, No part deformed out of kind, Nor yet so ugly half can be As is the inward suspicious mind. The masculine rhyme scheme of this poem reinforces the simple, but duplicitous, nature of those that surround Elizabeth.

In I Grieve and Dare Not Show My Discontent, Elizabeth laments how her loneliness defines her. The masculine rhyme oversimplifies her pain causing an emotional impact.

The simple, straight-forward diction employed in the three poems reveals Elizabeth as a woman first and a ruler second. Her poetry paints a picture of her emotions, which are equal to any person’s and therefore simple to understand.

“I will pluck your plumes…” When I Was Fair and Young

“Or let me live with some more sweet content, Or die and so forget what love ere meant.” “…be more cruel, love,… Le me…sink…”

The Death of Queen Elizabeth I