When I Was Fair And Young

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



When I was fair and young, then favor graced me.
Of many was I sought their mistress for to be.
But I did scorn them all and answered them therefore:

Go, go, go, seek some other where; importune me no more.
How many weeping eyes I made to pine in woe,
How many sighing hearts I have not skill to show,
But I the prouder grew and still this spake therefore:

Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.
Then spake fair Venus’ son, that proud victorious boy,
Saying: You dainty dame, for that you be so coy,
I will so pluck your plumes as you shall say no more:

Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.
As soon as he had said, such change grew in my breast
That neither night nor day I could take any rest.
Wherefore I did repent that I had said before:
Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 15, 2023

50 sec read
125

Quick analysis:

Scheme aab Bccb Bddb BeebB
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 840
Words 168
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 4, 5

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…

All Queen Elizabeth I poems | Queen Elizabeth I Books

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