THOMAS

WYATT’S POETRY;
THE POLITICS OF
LOVE by Jonathan
Kamholtz
The Lover Hopeth of Better Chance

HE is not ded that sometyme hath a fall.

The Sonne retorneth that was vnder the clowd
And when fortune hath spitt oute all her gall
I trust good luck to me shalbe allowd.
For I have sene a shippe into haven fall
After the storme hath broke boeth mast and shrowd;
And eke the willowe that stowpeth with the wynde
Doeth ryse again, and greater wode doeth bynd.
 ‘‘Wyatt’s political poetry is filled
with ambiguities of the nature
and identity of its heroes.’’
Thomas Wyatt’s The line ‘He is not ded’ and ‘I
Poetry: The Politics trust good luck to me shalbe
of Love allowed.’
He might be referring ‘‘He’’ to
Henry VIII.
-Or he might be referring ‘‘He’’ to himself, he
means he wasn’t dead although he had a fall.
He also suggests that he is an observer as in
line ‘‘For I have sene a shippe.’’ He prefers to
be remembered.
-A safe harbour he can refuge. (Political ups
and downs in the court)
 -Politics vs Love
-There is always a possibility that the poem
may indirectly refer to amatory, male sexual
Is It a Love energy by the lines ‘‘He is not ded that
sometyme hath a fall’’ and ‘‘Doeth ryse again
Poem? , and greater wode doeth bynd.’’
- The evidence suggests dual significance
which are amatory-political disguise; love and
politics may be complementary despotisms.
Henry VIII and the transition of the state
 The Furious Gun

THE furyous gonne in his rajing yre,

When that the bowle is rammed in to sore,
And that the flame cannot part from the fire,
Cracketh in sonder, and in the ayre doeth rore
The shevered peces; right so doeth my desire
Whose flame encreseth from more to more,
Wych to let owt I dare not loke nor speke:
So now hard force my hert doeth all to b
• Love blocks the traditional public avenues of
young men towards success.
• The lover is left only with self-destructive
inner warfare as a way to release the violence
of ambitions.
• Wyatt sees both love and politics as a
constant process of falling.
• The poem may also suggest the intensity of
the bond between courtier and patron.
 It May Be Good Sonnet 7
… WHAT wourde is that that chaungeth not,
Alas! I tred an endles maze
Though it be tourned and made in twain?
That seketh to accorde two contraries;
It is myn aunswer, god it wot,
And hope still, and nothing hase,
Imprisoned in libertes, And eke the causer of my payn.

As oon unhard and still that cries; A love rewardeth with disdain,
Alwaies thursty and yet nothing I tast: Yet is it loved. What would ye more?
For dred to fall I stond not fast. It is my helth eke and my sore
…
• The need to stand and the fear to fall
• Poet’s private life and public life
• Wyatt seeks a secure place
• Wyatt pictures himself as being helpless in
the face of political and sexual authorities.
No stable order in his world.
• Both authorities are strong and weak.
• Wyatt’s standing in court and in love-
intangible/his fall-tangible
• ‘‘answer’’=Anne (Boleyn)
• Physical distance in the court
‘‘The lover’s alienation affirms the traditional
social order and defuses his potential
competition and rebellion.’’ (p. 17)
-Anne Boleyn was ‘‘wind’’ that couldn’t be
touched or tamed; Wind is wild.
 SIR THOMAS
WYATT'S
TRANSLATIONS
FROM PETRARCH
by D. G. Rees
-Are Wyatt’s poems imitation or are they original?

- Petrarchism of Wyatt

- ‘‘elaborated and conceited’’ technique from Canzoniere.

- Wyatt’s choices of translation from Petrarch. (The tone and

development of the sonnets)
…Other rejoyse that se the fyer bright

And wene to play in it as they do pretend,

And fynde the contrary of it that they intend.

Alas, of that sort I may be by right…

-Padding
Caesar, when that the traytor of Egipt

With the'onourable hed did him present,

Covering his gladnes, did represent

Playnt with his teres owteward, as it is writt…

-Jerkiness of the rhythm.

…So shall it be great hurt unto us twayn,
And yours the losse and myn the dedly pain.
 Sonnet Structure of Wyatt
-Petrarchan structure
Octave: abba abba/sestet: various rhyme schemes.

Wyatt’s structure
Octave: abba abba/sestet: cddc ee
…And as I have deservid, - Craftmenship of Wyatt
So graunte me nowe my hire; - No near literal translation
Ye kno I never swervid,
Ye never fownd me lyre.
For Rachell have I servid,
(For Lya carid I never)
And her I have Reservid
Within my herte for ever.