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Queen Elizabeth I’s Self-Representation Through the Petrarchan Convention

Kraliçe I. Elizabeth’in Petrarca Şiir Geleneğiyle Şekillendirdiği Portresi

Journal Name:

  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi

Publication Year:

  • 2013

Key Words:

Keywords (Original Language):

Author NameUniversity of AuthorFaculty of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
Petrarca şiir geleneği Kraliçe I. Elizabeth’in hüküm sürdüğü dönemin son yirmi yılında en ışıltılı dönemini yaşamıştır. Çoğu şair Elizabeth çağı edebiyatını yazdıkları soneler ve sone dizileriyle zenginleştirirken aynı zamanda da bu geleneğe dair ifadeleri methiyelerinde kullanarak Kraliçe’yi övmüş ve yüceltmişlerdir. Ancak Petrarca şiir geleneği sadece şairler tarafından değil, I. Elizabeth tarafından da – kendi amaçları doğrultusunda – kendisini temsil etmek üzere bir araç ve aynı zamanda erkek saraylılarla karşılıklı ilişkilerinde bir strateji olarak kullanılmıştır. Eleştirmenlerin genel görüşü, Kraliçe’nin özellikle de hüküm sürdüğü dönemin sonlarına doğru Petrarca geleneğini politik bir amaçla kullandığı, saraylılar ve kendisi arasına bir mesafe koyduğu, asıl güç kendi elindeyken onların da kendilerini güçlü hissetmelerine müsade ettiğidir. Genellikle I. Elizabeth’in yapmış olduğu konuşmalar kendisi tarafından oluşturulan toplumsal portresini şekillendiren unsurları görebilmek amacıyla incelense de, yazmış olduğu iki şiir, “Mösyö’nün Gidişi Üzerine” ve “Kraliçe I. Elizabeth ve Sir Walter Ralegh Arasındaki Karşılıklı Şiir”deki cevabı, sahip olduğu otoriter sesi ortaya koyması ve kendisini temsil etmesi bağlamında önemlidir. Her iki şiirde de I. Elizabeth’in toplumsal ve kişisel yönleri bir araya gelmektedir. Petrarca geleneğine has ifadeleri kullanan Kraliçe kendisini şiirin hem konusu hem de şairi kılmaktadır. I. Elizabeth “Mösyö’nün Gidişi Üzerine” adlı şiirinde Petrarca geleneğinde yer alan zıt kavramları bir arada kullanarak bir yandan gönlünden geçenleri dile getirir diğer yandan ise sahip olduğu konum nedeniyle bunları bastırması gerektiğini ifade eder. Şiirin hem konusu hem de şairi olarak Petrarca geleneğindeki ifadeleri kontrolü altında tutar, bu gelenekteki bir şair olarak konuşur ve yakınır, aynı zamanda da geleneksel olarak erkek olan şiir kişisini bir kadın olarak değiştirir. Diğer şiirinde, Petrarca geleneğinin kalıplaşmış ifadelerini kullanarak kader yüzünden sahip olduğu aşkı ve makamı kaybettiğinden yakınan Sir Walter Ralegh’e verdiği cevap ile daha güçlü bir şekilde kendisini ifade eder. Hem “kaderi” hem de Ralegh’i kontrol edebilecek güce sahip olduğunu söyleyen Kraliçe, bu gelenek çerçevesinde kendisini temsil etmek isteyen saraylı şairlere ne ölçüde izin verdiğini de gösterir. Petrarca geleneğini kendine has kullanış şekli ile I. Elizabeth uzak, elde edilemez olan, iffetli ama hepsinden de öte otorite sahibi, yüce bir varlık olarak portresini şekillendirir.
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Abstract (Original Language): 
During the last two decades of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Petrarchan convention lived its glorious age. Along with enriching the Elizabethan literature with sonnets and sonnet sequences, most of the poets of the time also employed the elaborate language of the convention in their eulogies for glorifying and idealizing the Queen. However, not only the poets, but also the Queen herself adopted it – in her own way – as a means in her self-representation and as a strategy in her relations with her male courtiers. It is commonly agreed that the Queen used Petrarchism politically especially during the last period of her reign, establishing a distance between her courtiers and herself, and making them feel powerful while in fact she held all authority and control. Although Elizabeth I’s speeches are primarily studied in terms of tracing the main features of her public image set by herself, her two poems, “On Monsieur’s Departure” and her answer in “Verse Exchange Between Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Ralegh” are equally significant in her self-representation and her use of the authoritative voice. Her public and her private selves are conflated, she uses the gendered discourse of the Petrarchan love convention, accommodates herself within the tradition, casting herself both as the object and subject of the poem. In “On Monsieur’s Departure,” through the use of the Petrarchan paradoxes, Elizabeth I describes the yearnings of her heart but acknowledges her duty to repress them for she is the Queen and should not be conquered by love. She changes the conventional gender of the speaker, expresses her dilemma and her choice despite all its consequences. A stronger self-assertion is evident in the verse exchange where she answers the Petrarchan complaint of Sir Walter Ralegh who blames fortune for his loss of favour. The Queen expresses her superiority over him and “Fortune,” and shows how much she allows herself be represented and wooed by her courtiers in poetry. Both poems bear a determination and authority similar to that which is evident in her speeches. In these poems, through her own way of using the Petrarchan convention, Elizabeth I fashions herself as remote, unattainable, chaste, but above all, as authoritative and superior.
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