FIRST STANZA:
1:They flee from me that sometime did me seek.
2: With naked foot ,stalking in my chamber
3: I have seen them gentle ,tame & meek
4: That now are wild and do not remember.
5:That sometime they put himself in danger.
6:To take bread at my hand: & now they range.
7:Busily seeking with a continual change.
SECOND STANZA:
8:Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
9: Twenty times better , but once in special
10:In thin array after a pleasant guise
11: When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall
12: And she caught me in her arms long and small
And softly said "dear heart how lol you thi"
THIRD STANZA:
14:It was no dream: I lay broat waking
15:But all is turned thorough my gentleness
16:Into strange fashion of foresaking
17: And I have leave to go to her goodness
18:And she also ,to use newfangleness.
19:But since that I so kindly am served
20:I would drain know what she hath deserved.
EXAM NOTES:
1) BACKGROUND:
Thomas Wyatt was one of the most renowned ,rewarded and respectful in the his times he was born in Kent in 1503 and died in 1542 , followed the footsteps of his father in court after being graduated from at. John's college in Cambridge.
This was the reason that sonnets were a total and pure indication of his love for Anne Boleyn and some critiques after going through his sonnet :"they flee from me" even criticize for the fact that he even enjoyed an affair with his beloved therefore there is always a reference to Anne Boleyn in his sonnets.
2) RHYMING SCHEME & DICTION :
1: The rhyming scheme for this particular sonnet is : aa abbcc
2: The diction used by Thomas Wyatt is the diction used by common people in his time with a new word : newfangleness ( means newly came into existence) .
3) CRISP SUMMARY:
1) This sonnet is all about the poet's rememberance of his beloved (Anne Boleyn). This sonnet goes on in contrast with his past and his contemporary situation.
2) In the first stanza he describes how he clearly states his agony and is trying to shadow how his beloved used to seek him with naked feet in his chamber and now she just does not pay any heed to his presence.
3) In the second stanza he remembers the intimacy that he had with his beloved and portrays how he has even seen her gown fall from her shoulders how they used to cuddle and with third stanza he contradicts by saying that it's was not a dream but reality and says that suddenly his beloved's actions have become strange for him.
4) CRITICAL ANALYSIS &EXAM NOTES:
1: The first stanza itself start off with the agony itself residing into the poet , that agony that he is unable to to cope with, that agony that resides in him because of an ongoing change in the behaviour of his beloved.
2: He portrays how his beloved used to come to stare at him bare feeted in his chamber, he remembers how he has seen her in gentle, tame & meekier , contradicts this thought in his next verses that are " that now are wild & do not remember" this clearly shows poet's inner conflicts that the woman who was so gentle ,tame and meek towards him who love him so much now clearly seems to have forgotten him and this thing in particular hurts him.
3: In the second stanza the poet uses the verses "thanked it hath been otherwise twenty times better ,but once is special." He is grateful that this was not the situation in the past when they were in a relationship & concludes the fact that the situation in the past when they were in a relationship was twenty times better than the contemporary situation.
4 :The next lines shows the intimate connection & bonding between the poet and his beloved with the line "when her loose gown did fall from her shoulders" clearly indicates how often they used to indulge in physical intimacy.
5: The lines 12&13 with the phrase "dear heart how lik you thi" shows the two sided indulgence of both the poet and his beloved into their relationship. This line clearly signates his beloved asking him did he liked it which includes everything from physical intimacy to the spiritual nlove that resides in both of them .
6: The beginning of the third stanza marks the justification of relationship between him and his beloved and says that everything is vained into a strange fashion of foresaking because of his gentleness & mild nature & has turned into a cruel situation of his abandonment.
7:In the lines 17,18,19&20 of the third stanza he says that he is now released from her goodness & released to have a new encounter with another man for he sets her free from his mind and leaves on readers to decide that after being so cruel to him what he had deserved.
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS:
Q1: Character sketch of Thomas Wyatt?
Q2: Describe the relationship between the poet and his beloved?
ANSWERS:
A1 ;Character sketch of Thomas Wyatt : Thomas Wyatt was one of the most renowned poet of his times and a courtier to in the king Henry VIII's court he was born in Kent in 1503 and died in 1543. He graduated from John's college at Cambridge university and followed the footsteps of his father.
During the reign of Henry VIII he was an ambassador of Italy and France and at the king's court fell in love with his second wife Anne Boleyn , it was completely love at first sight , he was astonished by her beauty in such a manner that in his sonnets there is always a metaphorical representation of his love for her.
A2 ;Relationship between poet and his beloved: At some points in his sonnets he hints of having a healthy relationship with Anne Boleyn and this is clearly represented in his sonnet "they flee from me"
But on the other hand in his sonnet "Whoso list to hunt" shows how even after his constant efforts to pursue his love for her she refuses to his proposals and in the end he clears that she only belongs to one man that is Henry VIII.
Since there is no clear evidence of him having a relationship with her some critiques conspires him of having a healthy relationship with him because of adverse behaviour of Henry VIII towards Anne Boleyn but on the other hand when we read his sonnet Whoso list to hunt we get to know the chastity of Anne for her husband Henry despite his adverse behaviour for her.
Check our next topper's guide:
Topper's guide for "sweet warrior" by Edmund Spenser
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