Life — May 26, 1921 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Unfamiliar Anniversaries—No. 7: Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth" This satirical cartoon by Tenggren depicts the famous legend of Raleigh spreading his cloak for Queen Elizabeth. The text clarifies that while this story is well-known, it's historically dubious. The cartoon shows an innkeeper lounging nearby, invisible due to perspective, telling a barmaid he'd be "plentifully blistered" rather than ruin his best cloak. The satire mocks how the romantic legend obscures the actual historical event—Raleigh's head was later divorced from his body by public execution, yet his memory remains sanitized by courtly mythology. The cartoon contrasts the idealized version with unheroic reality, suggesting how history gets romanticized.