From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Question about this poem? Ask us. I leave off therefore, 8 Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind. Cite This Page. Lines It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.
The meter is iambic pentameter, a pattern in which a line has five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables—ten syllables in all. However, several lines in "Whoso List to Hunt" have extra syllables. Lines 2 and 3 reveal the predominant iambic-pentameter pattern:. This fact—along with Thomas's good looks, sociability, and knowledge of foreign languages and music—enabled him to make inroads at the king's court.
He served Henry in various roles, most notably as a diplomat in France and Italy. In the latter country, he became interested in the sonnets of Petrarch. The sonnet— sonetto in Italian—was a type of poem that had not yet been introduced to England. After returning home, Wyatt translated many of Petrarch's sonnets into English and began writing his own sonnets.
While serving the king in the s, Wyatt became interested in an attractive and witty young lady who frequented the court, Ann Boleyn. But a few years later, the king himself began courting Boleyn while seeking an annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry later married Boleyn after declaring his union with Catherine invalid. Consequently, Wyatt, who was in an unhappy marriage, had to give up any thoughts of winning Boleyn for himself. His sonnet is believed to be an expression of his frustration at this turn of events.
The poem tells of a deer hunt in which several riders are chasing a hind female deer. The deer hunt and the hind are both metaphors, the hunt representing young men pursuing an alluring woman at the king's court and the hind representing the woman herself, presumably Boleyn. In plain English, the poem says the following:. Following is the text of the poem, followed by explanatory notes.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore, I am of them that farthest cometh behind. Yet may I by no means my wearied mind Draw 5 from the deer, but as she fleeth afore 6 Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore, Sithens 7 in a net I seek to hold the wind. Who list her hunt, 8 I put him out of doubt, As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven 9 with diamonds in letters plain There is written, her fair neck round about:. Noli me tangere, 10 for Caesar's 11 I am, And wild for to hold, though I seem tame. Whoso : Whosoever, whoever. Draw : Withdraw. Sithens : Since. Who list her hunt : Who wishes to hunt her.
Poets frequently alter word order for effect. For example, Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth , "Something wicked this way comes. In he was imprisoned for brawling and, it has been alleged, for sexual misconduct; he would be locked up again two years later.
Wyatt was among a group of ambassadors who travelled to Rome to petition Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and during the trip, Wyatt acquired detailed knowledge of new poetic forms — chiefly, the sonnet — which he brought back with him to the English court. The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University.
Chamberlain in , Wikimedia Commons. For one of the earliest sonnets ever written in English, it pretty much blows all subsequent attempts out of the water. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.
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