Volu m e I - Purdue University Calumet

Megan Arkenberg
Carroll University
Historicizing Diana in Ralegh's "Praised be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light"
"We all loved her," wrote John Harington of his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I (Greenblatt,
"Sixteenth Century" 494). To secure her power in a political world dominated by men, Elizabeth made
herself the idol of an "elaborate cult of love," where her courtiers addressed her in devoted, filial, even
quasi-religious terms (Greenblatt, "Elizabeth I" 687). As a poet, Sir Walter Ralegh was a major force in
what Louis Montrose calls "the process of Elizabethan cult-formation" ("Idols" 133). With its conflation of
Elizabeth with Diana, virgin goddess of the moon, and its calculatedly excessive flattery, Ralegh's "Praised
be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light" appears at first to be simply another votive offering in the cult of the
Virgin Queen. But consideration of other discourses, including Ralegh's biography, contemporary works of
literature, and sixteenth century poetic conventions, reveals an unflattering portrait of Elizabeth's tyranny,
pride, and inconstancy hidden in Ralegh's poem.
"Praised be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light" first appeared in the anthology The Phoenix Nest,
printed in London in 1593. This came at the end of a tumultuous six years for Ralegh's relationship with
Elizabeth. Having been the queen's "favorite" since his 1581 appearance at court, in 1587 he began to feel
his position threatened by the earl of Essex, Robert Devereux (Ralegh and Elizabeth I 698 n.1). Then, in
1592, he faced a far more disastrous fall when Elizabeth discovered his secret marriage to Elizabeth
Throckmorten, one of her ladies-in-waiting. Infuriated that her consent to the marriage had not been
sought, Elizabeth had Ralegh "promptly imprisoned" in the Tower of London (Greenblatt, "Sixteenth
Century" 494).
This incident, which occurred near the publication of "Praised be Diana's Fair and Harmless Light"
and marks a low point in Elizabeth and Ralegh's relationship, throws Ralegh's lines about Diana-Elizabeth's
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