The following version of the poem was used to create this guide: Herbert, Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. "Even Now that Care." Poetry Nook. https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/thrice-sacred-queen-elizabeth.

Note that all parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

In 1561, Mary Sidney was born to Sir Henry Sidney, governor of Wales, and Mary Dudley, an intimate friend of Queen Elizabeth. She had three brothers, including the celebrated poet Philip Sidney, and one sister. Her brothers were sent away to school, but, though she and her sister were educated at home, they received an exceptional education. When her sister died in 1575, Queen Elizabeth I invited Mary Sidney to court, where, at 15, she was married to the wealthy Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. With him, she had four children, of which only her two sons grew to adulthood. They are famous as the dedicatories of Shakespeare's First Folio.

In the 1580s, after the deaths of her daughter, her beloved brother Philip, and both parents in a matter of months, Sidney began to write. She remained in isolation in the country for several years, but in 1588, returned to court and began promoting poetry and other art that would honor Philip Sidney's legacy. She wrote in forms that were considered acceptable for women: elegies for her male relatives and religious poetry. However, she published under her own name, which was highly unusual at the time. This poem was probably presented to the queen in August 1599, an important time for the Herbert family: Sidney was seeking a place at court for her son William and trying to prevent the breakup of her estate and financial troubles in anticipation of her husband's death. In 1601, William, given his place at court, infuriated Elizabeth by impregnating one of her favorite ladies-in-waiting and refusing to marry her, and barely escaped imprisonment, while the Earl of Pembroke did indeed die. Mary Sidney, however, maintained a position of some honor at court. There are hints that she continued to write throughout her later years, when she reconciled with her sons and was involved in court amusements, but none of these writings survive. She died of smallpox in 1621.

This poem is an elegy, expressing praise to both Queen Elizabeth and to Sidney's brother Philip.