Literature
“The letter to Sir Walter Raleigh” was written by Edmund Spenser in 1500s (Spenser, 1). The throne of London at that time was held by Queen Elizabeth I. In this letter, Spenser has portrayed a character similar to that of Queen Elizabeth I by the name “The Faerie Queene Gloriana”. In the allegory, the queen rides on a white donkey, with a dwarf behind her dressed like a warrior (Spenser 2). And like in real life, people beg mercy from her. One of such instances is when a girl kneels in front of the queen and begs for help that she would like her to send a soldier to the dungeon where her parents had been imprisoned since a long time.
The long allegory that Edmund Spenser had written for the queen could possibly be one of the greatest literature works during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. It was obviously Spenser’s best work and consumed many years of his. But as we proceed through the allegory, we find that though the allegory has quite a resemblance with the Queen’s actual life, we could not comment on how it was received on the Queen’s end. But one thing for sure is a fact that it was well received by the public of England during that time.
The Faerie Gloriana, just like the real life queen, is bold and beautiful. The common men respect her and obey her commands. There was another instance which shows the high regards for the queen when a man craves for the queen as his parents had been slayed. And asks her to assign the task of capturing the culprit to a brave knight (Spenser 3). This is how Spenser portrays Queen Elizabeth I in “Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh”.
While in the “To the most high, mightie, ”, Spenser takes the compliments to the next level. In this, Spenser praises the queen extensively and represents himself as a servant to the highness. Spenser paints an imaginative “Faerie land” picture portraying his home country England.
In stanza IV, Spenser tells us about the kind heartedness of the queen of Faerie land. He also describes her clothing, how the contrasting color of her dark stole and fair skin appeared so beautiful. He describes her skin to be so immensely fair that it even surpassed the whiteness of the donkey that she rode.
Edmund Spenser has been very extremely praising and flattering the queen and has portrayed it in his allegory. The work was never completed on the allegory because Spenser had died after the completion of third book in the Westminster. But as far as the question of the queen being flattered by his work arises, she was definitely flattered by Spenser’s laborious work. This is evident from the fact that Spenser was granted a pension for life amounting to fifty British pound a year. Yet there are no evidences that could prove that Queen Elizabeth I had read the poem. But if the queen happened to have read the allegory, there is no possibility that she would not have liked it. Because the allegory is very close to the reality.
Works cited
Spenser, Edmund. Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, The Faerie Queene.
https://www.archive.org/stream/spensersthefaeri15272gut/15272.txt. Accessed August 8 2016.
