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Description
Flashcards by Aimee Vickers, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Aimee Vickers
over 8 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Context to the poem | Anne Boleyn supposedly had an affair with Thomas Wyatt in the 1520's before she married Henry VIII hence she is the subject of the poem. This supposed affair contributed towards Anne Boleyn's execution and had Wyatt imprisoned in the Tower of London himself. |
| Summary | While ostensibly about a guy who says he may no longer hunt this wild hind (a female deer) that is impossible to catch, everybody has thought forever that it's really about Wyatt's relationship to Anne Boleyn. She's the hind, he can't resist her, and yet he knows he must because now she belongs to Henry (the "Caesar" of line 13). |
| 'Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind, But as for me, alas, I may no more.' | "Whoso" means "whoever," and "list" means something like "cares" or "wants," so the first line says, "Whoever cares to hunt, I know where there's a hind (a female dear). "as for" him, alas, he's got to let it go ("may no more" means he can no longer hunt that deer). |
| he vain travail hath worried me so sore, I am of them that farthest cometh behind. | The speaker simply tells us that hunting this particular hind is a "vain travail," a pointless task. It's a pointless task that has ("hath") worried him a lot, even worried him to the point of soreness, so now he's one of those that "farthest cometh behind." "farthest cometh behind": the speaker is saying he's in a group that comes last, that lags farthest behind. This is a continuation of the hunting discussion; people used to hunt in groups, so he's saying he's in the last group by choice, because he can't hunt. |
| Symbolism of the woman as a 'deer'. | In Greek and Roman mythology, the deer (sometimes called a "doe," or a "hind") was a very special animal. The goddess Diana for example (in Greek myth she is called Artemis), is often accompanied by a deer. This is because she is the goddess of hunting and virginity, among other things. By using the metaphor of deer hunting, Wyatt may be suggesting that the woman he chases is a follower of Diana, a virgin of some kind. |
| 'Yet may I, by no means, my wearied mind Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore Fainting I follow'. | The speaker says that he is unable, by any means, to draw his wearied mind away from the deer. She continues to flee before ("afore") him, and he follows her, fainting. The line is very messy. The word "draw," for example, goes with "may I" but those two phrases aren't even in the same line. "My wearied mind" normally would come after "draw" (the speaker can't draw his thoughts from this deer-lady), but here it comes before. This isn't sloppy or ungrammatical, just a case of some poetic syntax. The speaker first told us he "may" not hunt, and now he's telling us he "may" not keep his eyes off her. He wants to forget about her, it seems, but he just can't. She keeps drawing his attention as she runs away from him. |
| 'I leave off, therefore, Since in a net I seek to hold the wind'. | Once again, the speaker talks about quitting hunting. He will "leave off," since trying to get a hold of this "hind" is like trying to hold the wind in a net. In other words: impossible. A net is a hunting implement, so this is another way to say that this woman cannot be hunted, or cannot be captured by conventional weapons. |
| The poem as a sonnet | This is a sonnet, and significant things usually happen around the eighth or ninth lines. Lots of sonnets are comprised of two groups—an octet (the first eight lines) and a sestet (the last six). Here, the first eight lines are clearly a group, which we can tell based on their rhyme scheme. It is: ABBAABBA, where each letter represents the sound in that particular end rhyme. Notice how interconnected it is, with A's and B's sandwiched in between each other. This is like a quadruple-decker. |
| 'Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt, As well as I, may spend his time in vain'. | The speaker begins line 9 by echoing the poem's first lines. Basically, the lines say "whoever wants to hunt this girl, he will spend his time in vain, without a doubt, just like I have." "I put him out of doubt"? That's pretty much like saying, "I am sure, without a doubt, that he'll waste his time, just like I have." "As well as I" is the same as either "just like me" or "in the same way as me." This is the ninth line of the poem. In many a sonnet, things change right around here, which is why the ninth line is often called the "turn" (in Italian, the volta). hile sometimes the speaker offers a problem in the first eight lines, and a resolution in the sestet (last six lines), sometimes things are as simple as a change in mood. here is no real dramatic change happening here; in fact, the speaker basically reiterates things he's already said (chasing this deer is a vain endeavor, she's a bit wild, etc.). |
| 'And graven with diamonds in letters plain There is written, her fair neck round about'. | There are letters "graven" (i.e., written, inscribed, etched) around her neck that say something. They are graven with Diamonds. |
| "Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am, And wild for to hold, though I seem tame." | The graven diamonds say "Noli me tangere" and that the deer belongs to Caesar. They also say this deer is "wild for to hold," even though she seems tame. 'Noli me tangere' was Latin, the language on the Roman Empire which Caesar was the head of, it can be translated as "do not touch me," Caesar was a symbol of power, generalship and tragedy, the closer person Wyatt could probably think of to fit these characteristics would be Henry VIII. Back in the day in England, you could get killed for hunting one of the king's deer. In other words, the speaker must stay away. The other thing about these lines is that they echo a passage from the Bible. In John 20:17, Jesus says "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father." The speaker shouldn't touch the deer because he could get killed. Also, however, he shouldn't touch her because she's semi-sacred or holy, a very special deer that is close to God. |
| Iambic Pentameter | That means five beats per line, each one comprised of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The stress emphasises the speaker's decision to desist from hunting. In the same way, the way the word "Fainting" starts the line with a stressed syllable really drives home the point that the speaker is, well, fainting—swooning, falling down in agony. |
| The Speaker | He knows Latin, which tells us he's probably educated (maybe an English courtier?). After all, the average person in the Renaissance didn't really know Latin. In addition to all of this, the speaker has a good sense of right and wrong, or rather he knows what he shouldn't do. He knows the deer belongs to somebody else and that chasing it could land him in a lot of hot water, which is why he resolves to quit: "I leave off, therefore" |
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