They flee from me that sometimes did me seek
With naked foot stalking in my chamber
I have seen them gentle tame and meek
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themselves in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range
Buisly seeking with a continual change.
Thanked be fortune, it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once in special
In thin array after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she caught in her arms long and small;
And therewithal sweetly did me kiss,
And softly said, Dear heart, how like you this?
It was no dream, I lay broad waking.
But all is turned through my gentleness
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go of her goodness
And she also to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served.
I would fain know what she hath deserved.
This is Wyatt's personal lyric containing threee stanzas, of seven lines each, written in 'rhyme royal'. The rhyme scheme is ababbcc. This stanza form is used effectively in the poem, as the ababb lines set up the cc lines for a powerful conclusion in each stanza.
In the first stanza, the speaker laments the fact that his lovers are leaving him. He remembers them when they were gentle and tame, but now he characterizes the departing lovers as wild and as not remembering the past love they had for the speaker. The speaker recalls that the ones who are leaving him used to take risks to be with him, but now they are looking for change.They are actively looking for something different. They are like wild animals that were domesticated, but they have regained their primal state and forgotten their taming.
The speaker recalls how lucky he was to have an experience that was twenty times better than what is happening now.
The appearances and actions of the lover peak in this passionate moment of the stanza.
The third stanza is unique in both its word choice and sentence structure. The speaker claims that the previously recalled erotic scene was not a dream, it was vividly real. Now however, everything has changed because of his gentleness and the lover is pursuing 'newfangleness' or the desire for change. The speaker ends by claiming that after the desertion he has experienced, he wonders what his lovers deserve.The speaker seems to believe that the lovers have left because he is too gentle; he was unwilling to prevent them from forsaking. Perhaps this is why the lovers have changed from 'tame to wild'. Because of his gentleness, the lovers feel free to pursue their 'newfangleness'
The ideas of gentleness, forsaking, goodness and newfangleness are linked by parallelism. These are disparate ideas, and the sentence structure links them by using each one to modify or explain the other ones. The speaker concludes with a hint of sarcasm, 'But since that I so kindly am served,/ I would fain know what she hath deserved'
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: Collected Poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Collected Poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt Study Guide & Essays
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My Galley Charged with Forgetfulness
My galley charged with forgetfulnessThrough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass
'Twene rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas
That is my lord, steerth with cruelness
And every oar a thought in readiness
As though that death were light in such a case;
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace
Of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain
Hath done the wearied cords great hindrance
Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance.
The stars be hid that led me to this pain,
Drowned is reason that should me comfort,
And I remain despairing of the port.
This sonnet relies heavily on metaphor and imagery, which was typical of Petrarchan sonnets. The speaker personifies himself as the captain of a ship trying to steer between two rocks, under the command of his cruel lord, who is also his enemy. Winds made by sighs and tears, tear the sail apart and the ship is further hindered by 'A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain'. The stars which would enable the pilot to navigate, are obscured and 'Drowned is Reason that should me comfort/ And I remain despairing of the port'.
The sonnet portrays a man in an impossibly dangerous situation, marooned at sea and far from the safety of harbour. Wyatt uses typical Petrarchan conventions(the lover as a ship tossed on the sea of love; the lover alternately freezing and burning hot, among them).
Wyatt's language and syntax are more difficult than Surrey(Henry Howard), making his sonnets a bit tougher to crack. He generally translates from Italian models, which means his themes or issues don't usually originate with them.
He generally follows the rhyme scheme abba, cdde, effe, gg.
He often presents two sides of love, physical and spiritual but no union between them. This sonnet is the translation of Petrarch's sonnet 189.
He was called 'The poet of the drab age' by C. S. Lewis. He found difficulties in handling the imabic pentameter line in the sonnet while translating it from Latin because he was more a translator than an originator of the sonnet form.
