who so list to hount i knowe where is an hynde

Question 1

essence of the poem

Answer 1

Whoso list to hunt focuses on the theme of love as a despairing and unattainable pursuit, using an extending metaphor of hunting to convey the dynamics of their relationship: it’s like hunting a deer he can’t catch.

Question 2

What is hunting a common metaphor for?

Answer 2

It uses the violent, competitive sport as a common metaphor for courting, where the moment of capture is to be sexual.

Question 3

What is significant about the form of the poem?

Answer 3

The poem is a sonnet in which Wyatt is credited for bringing the poetic form from Italy.

Question 4

What is the poem a reworking of?

Answer 4

The sonnet is a reworking of Rima 190 by Petrarch - a sonnet that presents a love-lorn speaker chasing a white doe.

Question 5

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Answer 5

• a 16th century political adviser for Henry VIII, an ambassador for France and Italy
• had a rumoured affair with Anne Boyeln, in which he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a month until her execution
• his principal patron was Thomas Cromwell

Question 6

What political and social turmoil was occurring at the time?

Answer 6

The Christian Church was undergoing drastic change, and political correction was taboo and ambiguous, so many poets used conceit and extended metaphors to protect their position and status.

Question 7

What did Wyatt say his aim was with language?

Answer 7

Wyatt was most concerned with linguistic experimentation; he wanted to “civilise” the English language and bring it up to the status of other powerful European languages.

Question 8

Themes

Answer 8

Rejection, obsession, unattainable, power, status

Question 9

Rhyme Scheme

Answer 9

ABBA ABBA CDDCEE

Question 10

Metre

Answer 10

Mostly iambic pentameter, but lines 6,7,8 begin with a trochaic foot (stressed/unstressed). The last line is catalectic (missing a final syllable).

Question 11

What is unusual about the sestet?

Answer 11

The octet usually poses a problem to which the sestet provides a solution, however in ‘Who so list to hount’ there is a lack of, subverting the petrarchan form and so highlighting how he cannot overcome the problem.

Question 12

‘Who so list to hount’

Answer 12

-Begins with an invitation
-Predatory voice

Question 13

‘hynde’

Answer 13

-Extended metaphor of hunting a deer = pursuing a woman
-Objectification of women as a prize to be won
-Degrading, dehumanising

Question 14

‘helas, I may no more’

Answer 14

-Onomatopoeic - a sigh of personal disappointment
-Semantic field of despair follows through the rest of the poem

Question 15

‘the vayne travaill hath weried me so sore’

Answer 15

-The obsession is hopeless and destructive.
-Hyperbolic
-Sibilance emphasises the mental and emotional toil of the pursuit.
-Meter places the emphasis on “vayne” emphasising weakness in love

Question 16

‘farthest cometh behinde’

Answer 16

Self-deprecating, he falls behind other men

Question 17

‘hynde’, ‘behinde’, ‘afore’, ‘therefore’

Answer 17

Four examples hint at sense of stasis. Rhymes are also reluctant to move forward, repetition of sound.

Question 18

‘fleeth afore
Faynting I followe’

Answer 18

Fricatives are soft + graceful, maintaining her femininity.
Also light + airy sounds remind him of her unobtainability, mimicing her freedom.

Question 19

‘I leve off’

Answer 19

Spondee = aggressive + abrupt - command for him to cease the pursuit

Question 20

“Sithens in a nett I seke to hold the wynde”

Answer 20

-“nett” = symbol of entrapment.
-Metaphor: an impossible task to possess her
-“wind” = intangible, invisible, wild, part of nature and thus the feminine.

Question 21

“Who list her hount”

Answer 21

Echoes the first line, implies desparation and obsession.

Question 22

Volta

Answer 22

Change in tone, colder and more direct, reflected in monosyllabic language

Question 23

‘graven with Diamondes’

Answer 23

wealth, valued, precious, worthy, sacred
Reflects the status of the king

Question 24

‘Noli me tangere for Cesars I ame’

Answer 24

‘Do not touch me’
-Female voice, though her male owner’s commands

Question 25

‘Wylde for to hold though I seme tame’

Answer 25

contrasting stereotypes of women: tame and feral
reflects the roles of the narrator vs rebecca

Question 26

What is the significance of the fact the poem is written in English?

Answer 26

Romance languages at the time of the Renaissance were considered to be Italian, French and Spanish. Here, Wyatt writes in English as he is keen to amplify its significance as a language of literary love.

Question 27

when was the poem written? what were the attitudes of love during this time?

Answer 27

1530’s during the time of renaissance
Love poetry in the Renaissance often expressed sexual or romantic passion, but it could also serve a variety of political, social and religious ends.
Poets described love as an overpowering force, both spiritual and sexual. For most people, however, marriage was a more practical matter.