Whoso List To Hunt
Interpreting Sir Thomas Wyatt's Whoso List to Hunt:
August 24, 2006 by Gwen Wark Gwen Wark Published Content: 1 Total Views: 0 Favorited By: 0 CPs Full Profile | Subscribe | Add to Favorites Recommend (37)Multiple pages Font SizePost a comment Volatile 16th Century Politics and Scandal Meet Art Head on
Throughout the reign of the volatile Henry VIII, writers were posed with a very sensitive problem: how to convey a message to their intended audience without giving offense to the ruler. This problem was addressed most directly in a passage from Sir Thomas More’s work Utopia, in which it is written: “[B]y the indirect approach you must seek and strive to the best of your power to handle matters tactfully...” (710)
More’s work then …show more content…
The poet has used the original substance of Petrarch’s sonnet to his advantage, lifting the symbols and ideas from the original and causing them to be reinterpreted by the reader.
For example, just as the deer in Petrarch’s poem represented an unattainable mistress, so too does Wyatt’s “hind”; however, the women symbolized by the pursued deer are very different. Petrarch is using the image to symbolize his mistress, while Wyatt uses that same image to represent his own lady. By using the original content of the sonnet to his advantage, Wyatt ensures that his poem operates on the surface as a translation while still containing his own message.
Another point in the sonnet where Wyatt has invested his translation with multiple layers of meaning is the description of the words of Caesar, written about the deer’s neck. In both Petrarch’s original sonnet and Wyatt’s translation the quarry has been protected from capture by ownership, and this image works to Wyatt’s advantage. Wyatt uses the line “Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am.” to denote that the quarry is the property of someone more powerful than the speaker; this line is similar to that of Petrarch’s …show more content…
Later, Wyatt uses the tool of enjambed lines to force the reader’s breath into another pattern. By forcing a prolonged reading of the lines the reader is left out of breath, mimicking the “fainting” of line 7. The enjambed lines could be simply read as part of the translation, but Wyatt’s intentional inclusion of them in this poem indicate Wyatt’s own breathless, weary state of mind.
By using lines that run together to mimic the chase of the quarry, Wyatt further imprints his own emotions on the piece. The manipulation of the language within the translation allows Wyatt to add another layer of meaning to the sonnet through the use of tone and color.
The symbolism that Petrarch uses in his original sonnet has been maintained in Wyatt’s translation. Again, Wyatt chooses specific wording in his translation so that the poem may be read in different ways. For example, Wyatt uses the “hind” of line 1 of the poem in several ways: she has been taken directly from the Petrarch version where she symbolizes an unattainable mistress, yet she comes to represent Wyatt’s own
August 24, 2006 by Gwen Wark Gwen Wark Published Content: 1 Total Views: 0 Favorited By: 0 CPs Full Profile | Subscribe | Add to Favorites Recommend (37)Multiple pages Font SizePost a comment Volatile 16th Century Politics and Scandal Meet Art Head on
Throughout the reign of the volatile Henry VIII, writers were posed with a very sensitive problem: how to convey a message to their intended audience without giving offense to the ruler. This problem was addressed most directly in a passage from Sir Thomas More’s work Utopia, in which it is written: “[B]y the indirect approach you must seek and strive to the best of your power to handle matters tactfully...” (710)
More’s work then …show more content…
The poet has used the original substance of Petrarch’s sonnet to his advantage, lifting the symbols and ideas from the original and causing them to be reinterpreted by the reader.
For example, just as the deer in Petrarch’s poem represented an unattainable mistress, so too does Wyatt’s “hind”; however, the women symbolized by the pursued deer are very different. Petrarch is using the image to symbolize his mistress, while Wyatt uses that same image to represent his own lady. By using the original content of the sonnet to his advantage, Wyatt ensures that his poem operates on the surface as a translation while still containing his own message.
Another point in the sonnet where Wyatt has invested his translation with multiple layers of meaning is the description of the words of Caesar, written about the deer’s neck. In both Petrarch’s original sonnet and Wyatt’s translation the quarry has been protected from capture by ownership, and this image works to Wyatt’s advantage. Wyatt uses the line “Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am.” to denote that the quarry is the property of someone more powerful than the speaker; this line is similar to that of Petrarch’s …show more content…
Later, Wyatt uses the tool of enjambed lines to force the reader’s breath into another pattern. By forcing a prolonged reading of the lines the reader is left out of breath, mimicking the “fainting” of line 7. The enjambed lines could be simply read as part of the translation, but Wyatt’s intentional inclusion of them in this poem indicate Wyatt’s own breathless, weary state of mind.
By using lines that run together to mimic the chase of the quarry, Wyatt further imprints his own emotions on the piece. The manipulation of the language within the translation allows Wyatt to add another layer of meaning to the sonnet through the use of tone and color.
The symbolism that Petrarch uses in his original sonnet has been maintained in Wyatt’s translation. Again, Wyatt chooses specific wording in his translation so that the poem may be read in different ways. For example, Wyatt uses the “hind” of line 1 of the poem in several ways: she has been taken directly from the Petrarch version where she symbolizes an unattainable mistress, yet she comes to represent Wyatt’s own