Whoso List to Hunt

'Whoso List to Hunt': Sir Thomas Wyatt biography

Sir Thomas Wyatt was born in 1503 in Kent, England. He was an English poet known for introducing the sonnet into English literature. Wyatt was educated at Cambridge and as an adult became a member of the court of King Henry VIII. He was popular in court both for his skills with language and music, but also for his attractiveness.

Sir Thomas Wyatt was closely associated with the Boleyn family. It was rumoured that he had an affair with Anne Boleyn. This rumour proved dangerous as later Henry VIII had a desire to marry Anne Boleyn. It is the rumoured affair that likely caused Wyatt to be imprisoned in 1536. Strangely enough, Thomas Wyatt was knighted a year later. He was then sent out on diplomatic missions abroad. This could have been to keep Wyatt from Anne Boleyn. Sir Thomas Wyatt died in October 1542 of hyperthermia.

Whoso List to Hunt': poem

'Whoso List to Hunt': analysis and themes

Now we will analyse the main themes of the sonnet.

Violent pursuit of love

The poem's major theme is love, particularly unrequited love. Despite its theme, it is not a romantic poem. The poem is an extended metaphor to describe the speaker's relation as an unsuccessful hunt. The speaker often refers to their hunt being in vain. The deer they are pursuing seemingly cannot be caught.

This metaphor equates love with violence, the deer representing the object of the speaker's desire. The metaphor could be seen as problematic or even threatening, presenting the speaker as hunting a woman they wish to woo. Blurring the lines between love and violence. The speaker is desperate to entrap the deer and the prey has little say in this.

The speaker is one of many hunters after the deer. These fellow hunters could be interpreted as the speaker's love rivals. Of which the speaker has found themselves behind in the pursuit. In the poem, the speaker is exhausted by their fruitless chase of the deer. The speaker's dedication has them physically and mentally worn out. Their obsession is the cause of their anguish.

Gender roles

In the first octave, the poem appears to reinforce traditional gender roles. The speaker is a man engaging in a hunt. This male is in pursuit of a woman they desire. Although the woman in question does not wish for their attention. This gives the impression that the woman is something that can be possessed, a trophy for the speaker.

The pursued woman however does not wish to be caught. This can be seen as a rejection of the speaker's idea of love. Where it is up to the man to capture the woman. The deer refuses the speaker or hunter's wishes. In the final lines the deer's neck warns that though they seem tame, they are wild.

However, there are other men hunting the deer. The warning refers Caesar, a famous emperor. This could be suggestive that a more powerful hunter may already possess her. Which would render the woman powerless. The reference to Caesar could possibly be an allusion to Henry VIII.

The poem appears to go back and forth in its representation of gender roles. First, there is the familiar trope of a man pursuing a woman. This is followed by the woman showing resistance to the idea. Only for her to seem possessed by a powerful man at the end of the poem.

'Whoso List to Hunt': context

Francesco Petrach was an Italian poet. He was one of the first poets (post-classical) to write in his own language, as opposed to Latin or Greek. Petrarch turned the sonnet from a bawdy song into a more literary form. Sir Thomas Wyatt's 'Whoso List to Hunt' is an early example of a sonnet written in English.

Wyatt's poem is greatly inspired by Petrarch's 'Sonnet 190'. Both poems speak of unrequited love. In Petrarch's sonnet, there is a dream-like image of a deer wearing a necklace. 'Whoso List to Hunt' concentrates more on the hunt, and its draining effects. While it may seem strange today that poets would imitate each other, it was quite common in Wyatt's time.

The poem was written at the time of the English Reformation. When Henry VIII broke away from the catholic church so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Sir Thomas Wyatt was close to Henry's court and even closer to Anne Boleyn. The two were widely suspected of having an affair and some elements of the poem could be seen as a reference to their relationship.

The speaker of the poem is dejected and exhausted in their pursuit of love. This suggests that the woman he loves is unavailable to him. Which the potential queen certainly would be. There is an allusion to Caesar in the final lines. Caesar, like Henry, is a powerful man to whom the woman in the poem claims to belong.

Fig. 2 - Henry VIII, a potential love rival for Wyatt?

'Whoso List to Hunt': literary devices

Here we will look at some of the literary devices used by Thomas Wyatt, looking at rhyme, meter and the poem's form

Form

The poem is divided into one octave and a sestet. All Petrarchan sonnets contain fourteen lines and are set the same way. The octave is used to introduce an idea, in this case, the hunt and the speaker's desperation. The sestet gives the reader a reason for the speaker's troubles, the deer carrying a warning. The sestet opens in the same way as the octave, the title of the poem. This could be to reassert to speaker's desperation.

Meter

The poem is in iambic pentameter, which later became the most common meter used for sonnets in English. Wyatt most likely used this meter as it is used by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales (1392). The iambic pentameter is not strictly adhered to in the first line of the octave and sestet. This could be to represent the speaker's desperate exhaustion.

Rhyme scheme

Wyatt's poem uses a rhyme scheme common to the Petrarchan sonnet. For the octave, the rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA. This repetition is effective to reflect the speaker's obsessive nature. The sestet has a rhyme scheme of CDD CEE. All the rhyming words in the poem are simplistic, and a lot are monosyllabic. This could be due to it being one of the first examples of an English sonnet.