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Explication of "A Lamentation of Queen Elizabeth"

O ye that put your trust and confidence

    In worldly joy and frail prosperity,

That so live here as ye should never hence,

    Remember death and look here upon me.

    Ensample I think there may no better be.

        Your self wot well that in this realm was I

        Your queen but late, and lo now here I lie.

 Elizabeth of York died in 1503 leaving behind her husband and children.  Thomas More's poem, "A Lamentation of Queen Elizabeth," portrays the regrets and advice of the dead queen.  In the first stanza, the queen remarks on how frail and fleeting life can be; one moment she is queen of England and then the next she is deceased, never to rule again.

Was I not born of old worthy lineage?

   Was not my mother queen, my father king?

Was I not a king’s fere in marriage?

   Had I not plenty of every pleasant thing?

   Merciful God, this is a strange reckoning:

     Riches, honour, wealth and ancestry

     Hath me forsaken, and lo now here I lie.

 In the second and third stanzas, Elizabeth seems to be trying to make the reader understand that after death, money and class no longer have any value.  The fact that she is from a long line of royalty no longer matters.  When death calls on an individual, there is nothing to be done but succumb to fate.

If worship might have kept me, I had not gone.

   If wit might have me saved, I needed not fear.

If money might have holp, I lacked none.

   But O good God what vaileth all this gear?

   When death is come, thy mighty messenger,

      Obey we must, there is no remedy;

      Me hath he summoned, and lo here I lie.

Yet was I late promised otherwise,

    This year to live in wealth and delice.

Lo whereto cometh they blandishing promise,

   O false astrology and divinatrice,

   Of God’s secrets making thy self so wise!

      How true is for this year thy prophecy!

      The year yet lasteth, and lo now here I lie.

 In the fourth and fifth stanzas, Elizabeth seems to realize that fortunetellers and wealth distort our perception of the future. She has been lied to and flattered by the fortunetellers that promised she would live in wealth and pleasure for the year.   She is realizing that God's secrets cannot be revealed by anyone but God in His time.  Not even money has the ability to help her be happy in death.

O brittle wealth, aye full of bitterness,

    Thy single pleasure doubled is with pain.

Account my sorrow first and my distress,

    In sundry wise, and reckon there again

   The joy that I have had, and I dare sayn,

       For all my honour, endured yet have I

      More woe than wealth, and lo now here I lie.

Where are our castles now, where are our towers?

   Goodly Richmond, soon art thou gone from me;

At Westminster that costly work of yours,

   Mine own dear lord, now shall I never see.

   Almighty God vouchsafe to grant that ye

       For you and your children well may edify.

       My palace builded is, and lo now here I lie.

 In stanza six, the focus of the poem shifts for the rest of the poem from Elizabeth's own thoughts of her situation to her family and their situation without a mother and wife.  Elizabeth comments on the costly work at Westminster which could be in reference to the Lady Chapel that Henry VII started building in 1503. However, Elizabeth's palace is her deathbed not a castle.  In stanza seven, Elizabeth says goodbye to the husband that she loved and respected in life.  She also regrets that he will have to play the role of mother to their children as well as being their father. 

Adieu, mine own dear spouse, my worthy lord.

   The faithful love that did us both combine

In marriage and peaceable concord

   Into your hands here I clean resign

   To be bestowed upon your children and mine.

      Erst were you father, and now must ye supply

     The mother’s part also, for lo now here I lie.

Farewell, my daughter lady Margaret.

   God wot full oft it grieved hath my mind

That ye should go where we should seldom meet.

   Now am I gone, and have left you behind.

   O mortal folk, that we be very blind;

      That we least fear, full oft it is most night:

      From you depart I first, and lo now here I lie.

 In stanza eight, Elizabeth addresses her daughter Margaret.  Elizabeth is grieved that she has gone on to a place where she will not be able to meet with her daughter.

Farewell, madame, my lord’s worthy mother,

   Comfort your son, and be ye of good cheer.

Take all a worth, for it will be no nother.

  Farewell, my daughter Katherine late the fere

  To prince Arthur, mine own child so dear.

     It booteth not for me to weep or cry;

     Pray for my soul, for lo now here I lie.

 

 In stanza nine, Elizabeth beseeches her mother-in-law to comfort Henry because of what has happened.  Elizabeth also says goodbye to her daughter Katherine who is engaged to Prince Arthur.  Elizabeth realizes that there is no benefit in being sad because there is nothing she can do now that she is dead.

Adieu, Lord Henry, my loving son, adieu.

   Our Lord increase your honour and estate.

Adieu, my daughter Mary, bright of hue.

   God make you virtuous, wise, and fortunate.

   Adieu, sweet heart, my little daughter Kate;

     Thou shalt, sweet babe, such is thy destiny,

     Thy mother never know, for lo now here I lie.		 In stanzas ten and eleven, Elizabeth continues to go through her family members giving advice and wishing them well in their lives.  She wants her son Henry to grow in honour and wealth, and she wants her daughter Mary to be wise and virtuous.  Elizabeth also addresses Kate; it is believed that Elizabeth died giving birth to Kate.  Elizabeth also bids farewell to her three sisters and her sister-in-law and asks them all to pray for her.

Lady Cecily, Anne, and Katherine,

   Farewell my well-beloved sisters three;

O Lady Bridget, other sister mine,

    Lo here the end of worldly vanity.

    Now well are ye that earthly folly flee,

      And heavenly things love and magnify.

      Farewell and pray for me, for lo now here I lie.

 

Adieu my lords, adieu ladies all,

   Adieu my faithful servants every chone.

Adieu my commons whom I never shall

   See in this world, where fore to Thee alone,

   Immortal God verily three and one,

      I me commend Thy infinite mercy

      Show to Thy servant, for lo now here I lie.

 As the poem draws to a close, Elizabeth moves on to say goodbye to her public, nobles, commoners and each one of her servants.  She then beseeches the Trinity to have mercy on her in death.
By: Tracy L. Havill