Sir Thomas Wyatt

Sir Thomas Wyatt: sonnets

Sir Thomas Wyatt was famous for introducing the sonnet to the English language. Wyatt used his experience overseas and skills with language to translate and perfect the sonnet from Italian to English. Many of Wyatt's sonnets are Petrarchan sonnets. Petrarchan sonnets consist of 14 lines usually an octave and a sestet.

'Whoso List to Hunt' (1530s)

'Whoso List to Hunt' is one of the first sonnets to be written in the English language. The sonnet draws parallels with 'Sonnet 190' by the Italian poet Petrarch. The poem uses an extended metaphor to compare love with a hunt. The speaker talks of their dejection at the failed pursuit of a woman they love. 'Whoso List to Hunt' is one of Wyatt's most well-known poems and it has been speculated that it refers to Wyatt's relationship with Anne Boleyn.

'The Pillar Perished' (1540s)

Another sonnet that has similarities to the work of Petrarch. In the poem 'The Pillar Perished' the speaker mourns the death of a close friend. It is rumoured that the close friend may be Wyatt's political ally, Thomas Cromwell. This theory can be supported by the reference to the 'pillar' that the speaker had 'leant' perishing. Cromwell was known to support Wyatt throughout his troublesome relationship with Henry VIII. Unlike many of Wyatt's other poems, the subject is not one of romantic rejection.

Thomas Wyatt: famous poems

Although more famous for the sonnet, Thomas Wyatt was also prolific in other forms of poetry. Here we will take a look at some of the more famous examples.

'My Lute Awake' (1530s)

A poem that deals with a familiar theme in Wyatt's work: rejection and giving up. The speaker in the poem is asking their lute to perform one more song. The speaker wishes to sing no more because they have been spurned by a lover. They have been rejected by a woman who 'repulses' their affection 'cruelly'. The poem consists of eight quintets and has a rhyme scheme of AABAB.

'They Flee From Me' (1530s)

Another poem dealing with spurned love and was rumoured to reference Wyatt's relationship with Anne Boleyn. The speaker talks of a woman they were once romantic with but no longer are. The speaker uses similar imagery to the sonnet 'Whoso List to Hunt', where a once 'tame woman has become wild'. The poem is written in a technique known as 'rime royal' which uses iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of ABABBCC.

'Forget Not Yet' (1540s)

In this poem, its speaker asks those who knew him to remember his qualities and loyalty. The poem reflects on how volatile life in the Tudor court can be where one's popularity can go as quickly as it comes, something Wyatt himself experienced. The poem is made up of five quatrains and uses a rhyme scheme AAA with a refrain of the 'forget not yet' at the end of each quatrain. In the final quatrain, the refrain is altered slightly to 'Forget not this.'.

Sir Thomas Wyatt: facts

Thomas Wyatt led a short but adventurous life. Here we will look at some of the more interesting elements.

• Thomas Wyatt's first role in court was 'Sewer Extraordinary', a job that was not as gruesome as its name suggests. The job is more akin to that of a butler rather than one who deals with sewage.
• Wyatt found himself in and out of prison often despite his lofty positions in court. Sometimes it was because of the volatile nature of the times he lived in. Other times it was due to his own misconduct: in 1534 he was arrested for 'street brawling'.
• While on a diplomatic mission in Rome, Thomas Wyatt was captured and imprisoned by Emperor Charles V's armies. Not only did Wyatt escape his captives but he returned to England with a mastery of the sonnet, translating the form into English for the first time.
• After the execution of Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas Wyatt once again found himself imprisoned, this time in the Tower of London. He narrowly avoided his own execution through the political manoeuvring of his close friend, Thomas Cromwell.

Sir Thomas Wyatt: poem analysis

Here we will take a closer look at one of Sir Thomas Wyatt's most famous poems, 'Whoso List to Hunt', looking briefly at its context, meaning and form.

Context

The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet that is presumed to be written in the 1530s. This makes it one of the first sonnets to be written in English. Wyatt's 'Whoso List to Hunt' is a reworking of a sonnet written by Petrarch himself called 'Sonnet 190'. Many historians have suggested that the poem refers to Thomas Wyatt's relationship with Anne Boleyn. Although we can never fully know the truth the final lines suggest it is a possibility; the object of the speaker's desire says in Latin that she should not be touched because she belongs to Caesar. Caesar, like Henry VIII, was also a powerful ruler.

Meaning

Wyatt's sonnet is an extended metaphor. The speaker in the poem talks of a hunt for a deer that they can no longer keep up with. The deer is really a woman and the fellow hunters are her suitors. In the final volta, the speaker reveals that the deer no longer considers herself tame but wild. The speaker has given up hope of ever catching her love.

Form

As the poem is a Petrarchan sonnet it consists of a strict form. It has 14 lines made of one octave and then a sestet. The sestet at the end works a volta, which is used by poets to challenge a poem's original argument. The poem uses iambic pentameter, a meter that uses five pairs of stressed/unstressed syllables. Its rhyme scheme is ABBA with a final rhyming couplet at the end.