Whoso List To Hunt: Petrarch Sonnet
Olivia Hester
Dr. Julia Griffin
British Literature I
March 12, 2015
Whoso list to hunt:
Stalking vs. Admiring
“Whoso list to hunt” is a Petrarch sonnet with fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. It follows an abbaabba cddc ee rhyme scheme (Wyatt 649) instead of traditional Petrarch rhyme scheme of abbaabba cde cde (Petrarch 337). Wyatt’s poem is loosely based off of Petrarch’s original sonnet “Una candida cerva”. Both sonnets are about unattainable women and use the allusion of a doe to describe their encounter. In both poems the doe is adorned with jewels around its neck marking it as someone else’s. With that being said, the similarities between the two poems end there.
Wyatt and Petrarch have different motives for following
Dr. Julia Griffin
British Literature I
March 12, 2015
Whoso list to hunt:
Stalking vs. Admiring
“Whoso list to hunt” is a Petrarch sonnet with fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter. It follows an abbaabba cddc ee rhyme scheme (Wyatt 649) instead of traditional Petrarch rhyme scheme of abbaabba cde cde (Petrarch 337). Wyatt’s poem is loosely based off of Petrarch’s original sonnet “Una candida cerva”. Both sonnets are about unattainable women and use the allusion of a doe to describe their encounter. In both poems the doe is adorned with jewels around its neck marking it as someone else’s. With that being said, the similarities between the two poems end there.
Wyatt and Petrarch have different motives for following