Love is about the chase… (or is there more to it than that?)

LO: to learn how to approach a poem according to the assessment criteria for AS Level AQA pre-1900 poetry.

Thomas Wyatt

1503–1542

Thomas Wyatt

Born in Kent, England, Sir Thomas Wyatt was an ambassador to France and Italy for King Henry VIII. Wyatt’s travels abroad exposed him to different forms of poetry, which he adapted for the English language — most notably, the sonnet. Rumoured to be Anne Boleyn’s lover, he spent a month in the Tower of London until Boleyn’s execution for adultery. Many consider his poem “Whoso List to Hunt” to be about Boleyn.

Wyatt didn't publish this poem, or any of the others he wrote, during his lifetime. While many of them appeared in 1557, fifteen years after his death, some—such as "Whoso List to Hunt"—would have to wait many years.

At the time of writing, Henry VIII was on the throne. At the time of publishing, Queen Mary was on the throne- she died the next year and Elizabeth I then ruled.

Both Wyatt and Boleyn grew up in Kent and it was rumoured that they had known each other since childhood. Although Wyatt had married Elizabeth Brook he had separated from her. In 1536, Henry accused Boleyn of adultery and Wyatt was imprisoned. Wyatt’s friendship with Sir Thomas Cromwell, however, meant he was later released. Anne, however, was beheaded. For this rumour but also rumour of incest.

The Title- Whoso list to hunt means: ‘Whoever cares to hunt’, in modern English.

Tudor hunting: Henry VIII owned his own breed of deer- Fallow deer. These were allowed to run around the Kentish countryside. The predominant stag was considered to be the king of the herd and would establish his position in the rutting season. Any does that followed him were his and he would challenge stags that tried to mate with them- this would usually end in death of the weaker stag. No one other than Henry VIII was allowed to kill his deer as they were reserved for his sport while he was on religious tours- he was the only one worthy of killing such a venerated specimen.

Hunting is a major theme in the poem.

As is the idea of heirarchy and royal supremacy.

Greek and Roman mythology- Diana is accompanied by a deer. This is because she is the goddess of hunting and virginity, among other things. She's usually portrayed as an attractive teenage girl.

Contextual Knowledge: Sonnet Form

• Wyatt is often credited, along with the Earl of Surrey, with introducing the sonnet (a 14-line poem) into English.

• The sonnet was popularized by an Italian named Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), and "Whoso List to Hunt" is a loose imitation of Petrarch's Sonnet 190. It is likely that Wyatt was influenced by Petrarchan sonnets from his time spent in Italy as ambassador. He also spent a lot of time in Rome while he worked to annul Henry VIIIs marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This poem, then, is not only filled with royal intrigue, but form-wise it's one of the first of its kind.

• Petrarchan sonnets often featured an animal, symbolising an aspect of object of love.

What are the conventions of a Petrarchan sonnet?

Octave, sestet, volta, abbaabba

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, alas, I may no more;

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

I am of them that furthest come behind.

Literal meaning Apply context Symbolic meaning

Who is the speaker of our sonnet? Why does the speaker state

he knows where to find a hind? Surely he wants to keep her for himself?

Why is he unable to hunt her?

Why has a deer been used as a metaphor for a woman? Use your contextual knowledge to help.

What do you now know about Tudor hunts that can add depth of understanding?

How does the use of comma and semi colon in line 2 & end stop line 4 develop your understanding of these lines?

micro meaning

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore

Fainting I follow; I leave off therefore,

Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.

Literal meaning Apply context Symbolic meaning micro meaning

Eye rhyme- look as if they should rhyme but don’t. How does this develop your understanding of the poem?

How does the enjambment help you understand the syntax?

What is the significance of the verb fainting’?

Repetition of ‘may’ allows us to compare and contrast its use in the poem. As you do this- what ideas about this love can you infer?

Can you hold the wind? Can you hold it in a net? Why is this image being used?

Repetition of ‘wearied’, once a verb and now an adjective, establishes a tone of what mood?

Why would this freedom to flee seem ironic to a contemporary reader?

Why has the ending of the hunt been referred to here?

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I, may spend his time in vain.

And graven with diamonds in letters plain,

There is written her fair neck round about,

Literal meaning Apply context Symbolic meaning micro meaning

What is the significance of this pronoun ‘her’? Use your contextual knowledge

Who is the pronoun ‘him’ referring to? Use your contextual knowledge

Diamonds were EXTREMELY rare and often worn for safe keeping. They were a sign of wealth and the king’s favour

How would a contemporary reader respond to reference to this doe’s neck? What is the impact of the adjective ‘fair’?

‘letters plain’ is semantically ambiguous- what effect does this create? (plain= bland/ obvious)

Why is ‘vain’ repeated from line 3?

This caesura groups her, him and I. Why?

Half repetition of the opening- what is different now?

‘Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.’

Latin: supposedly engraved on the collars of white stags discovered 300 years after Caesar’s death.

John 20v17- the words spoken by Jesus to Mary when he had risen from the tomb.

Literal meaning Apply context Symbolic meaning micro meaning

Who is this alluding to? Why use Caesar and not someone else?

Compare and contrast the adjectives ‘wild’ and ‘tame’. What do we learn about this situation and this love in this final line?

What is the hidden irony of lines 13 and 14 being a rhyming couplet?

Petrarch’s sonnet 190 A white doe on the green grass appeared to me, with two goldenhorns, between two rivers, in the shade of a laurel, when the sunwas rising in an unripe season. Her look was so sweet and proud that to follow her I left everytask, like the miser who as he seeks treasure sweetens his troublewith delight. "Let no one touch me," she bore written with diamonds andtopazes around her lovely neck. "It has pleased my Caesar tomake me free." And the sun had already turned at midday; my eyes were tiredby looking but not sated, when I fell into the water, and shedisappeared.

Summary Whoso:The speaker says that, for those who are into hunting, he knows where to find a hind (female deer). He is no longer interested in chasing it, but he can't help himself. He keeps going after it, despite the fact that it's driving him to distraction. He knows he'll never catch her and he says that anybody else who even tries won't get her either. Trying to catch this hind could be dangerous. As it turns out, she belongs to Caesar, an allusion to Henry VIII.

Love is about the chase… (or is there more to it than that?)

The rhyme sound is a vowel- how does this add to the sensuality of the poem?