Masculinity Flashcards
How is masculinity presented in whoso list to hunt?
-Masculinity has long shaped the language of love, turning affection into a stage for dominance and desire into a contest of power
-In Wyatt’s Whoso List to Hunt, steeped in the chivalric ideals of the Renaissance, the speaker casts love as a competitive pursuit, as the woman he desires is reduced to prey in a hunt that reflects the futility of his masculine striving.
What could a big idea be?(1)
-In Who So List to Hunt, Thomas Wyatt portrays love and masculinity as a paradoxical pursuit—rooted in competiton, control and doomed by mans relentless need to pursuit power—mirroring the stifling intrigues of the Tudor court.
What does the quote “who so list to hunt” suggest?(2)
-By framing desire as a hunt, Wyatt successfully transforms love into a competitive and exhaustive pursuit;
-the speaker’s exhortation, “Who so list to hunt,” serves as a hearty entreaty for other men to join his chase of the elusive “hynde,” a creature that perhaps symbolizes the patriarchal context of the poem, where women were objectified as possessions to be “hunt[ed]” and passed from father to husband.
What does entreaty mean?
A heartfelt plea
What does the quote “alas I may no more” suggest?(3)
the speaker’s seemingly authoritative nature unravels with the lament, “Alas, I may no more,” where the monosyllabic rhythm and plaintive tone strip the pursuit of its initial bravado and expose the futility of his pursuit.
How does the structure link to the theme?(4)
-Wyatt’s disruption of the Petrarchan sonnet form also mirrors this emotional collapse; the octave usually introducing a problem, followed by a resolution in the sestet, is inverted, beginning with the consequences of the hunt and returning to its hopeless nature.
-This reflects the breakdown of the speaker’s masculinity, as the hunt fails to end in victory .
What o does the tension between the hynde belonging to “ceaser” and also being “wylde” suggest?(5)
-The reference to “Ceaser” as the true owner of the hind further underscores the impossible stakes of desiring what belongs to ultimate authority in a patriarchal society
-while the description of the hind as “wylde” adds a layer of complexity suggesting that even the most powerful patriarch cannot fully possess her. exploring the consequences of the masculine tendancy to ensanre women
-Thus in this way Wyatt critiques the futility of masculine desire and the destructive nature of a system that values domination, allowing him to effectively emphasise how the pursuit of unattainable power undermines both the woman’s agency and the man’s identity.
What poem could you compare whoso list with in terms of masculinity?
-The scrutiny
-Where Wyatt’s tone carries the weight of resignation, Lovelace’s speaker teases with cavalier arrogance, yet both poems expose the ways in which masculinity distorts love—turning it from a connection into a ritual of control and conquest.
