Analysis of On Monsieur's Departure

Queen Elizabeth I 1533 (Palace of Placentia, Greenwich) – 1603 (Richmond Palace, Surrey)



I grieve and dare not show my discontent,
I love and yet am forced to seem to hate,
I do, yet dare not say I ever meant,
I seem stark mute but inwardly to prate.
I am and not, I freeze and yet am burned.
Since from myself another self I turned.

My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying, flies when I pursue it,
Stands and lies by me, doth what I have done.
His too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.

Some gentler passion slide into my mind,
For I am soft and made of melting snow;
Or be more cruel, love, and so be kind.
Let me or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die and so forget what love ere meant.


Scheme AXAABB CDCDXA EFEFAA
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111001 1101111111 1111111101 1111110011 1101110111 111010111 111111001 10110111011 1011111111 11010111111 1111111111 110111111 1101010111 1111011101 1111010111 1111111111 1111111110 1101011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 756
Words 162
Sentences 10
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 188
Words per stanza (avg) 53
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 21, 2023

48 sec read
235

Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. more…

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