Text of the Poem

  Whoso list to hunt: I know where is an hind.
But as for me, alas I may no more:
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain,
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written her fair neck round about:
'Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.'

Footnotes

  1. The image of a royal collared deer, which Petrarch employs in his Sonnet 190, comes from the ancient Roman records of Pliny and Solinus, who remark on Alexander the Great’s long-lived deer. In Petrarch’s poem, the word “Cesare” means “king” more broadly. Wyatt’s version employs the more historically specific title of “Caesar.” In his version, there is also the implicit conflation of “Caesar” with King Henry VIII, the reigning king of England and the husband of Wyatt’s beloved. The Latin phrase “Noli me tangere” means “touch me not.” The phrase, which Petrarch uses in the vernacular Italian in his poem, alludes to John 20:17 of the Vulgate Bible, in which Jesus Christ tells Mary Magdalene, “‘Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.’” The message engraved into the hind’s collar suggests both Christ-like purity and ownership by a much more powerful figure.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  2. The verb “to grave” is a synonym for “to engrave,” which means to mark inscriptions or symbols upon a surface. The hind’s collar is engraved with diamonds that spell words indicating that she is the property of another man. The word “graven” also evokes the adjective “grave,” suggesting the great significance of the diamantine message conveyed in the penultimate line.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  3. The phrase “who list her hunt” echoes the poem’s first line—“Whoso list to hunt.” Wyatt’s repetition of this phrase at the start of the concluding sestet again invokes the audience of hypothetical suitors, thus continuing to prioritize masculine needs and expectations while ignoring those of the woman he hunts.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  4. The archaic word “sithens” is a contraction of the word “sithence,” which means “therefore,” “since,” or “subsequently.” The narrator suggests that he is wise to give up his hunt, since—or “sithens”—pursuing the hind is as futile as trying to capture the wind in a net.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  5. Wyatt employs personification, or the attribution of human qualities to nonhuman things, in his depiction of the hind. Personification is an important component of the sonnet’s extended metaphor, in which the hind represents a woman being pursued.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  6. Lines five, six, and seven feature enjambment, a device in which a sentence or phrase that begins in one line of verse flows into the next line. In this scenario, enjambment reinforces both the sonnet’s rhythm and the imagery that develops the scene of a weary hunter as he tries to catch the hind.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  7. Line five uses alliteration, or the repetition of consonant sounds. By repeating the consonant sound “m” in “may,” “means,” “my,” and “mind,” Wyatt mimics the obsessional, repetitive thoughts of the speaker. Further, the alliterative phrases emphasize the speaker’s frustration instead of considering the deer’s experience of being hunted. Wyatt thus develops the themes of masculine entitlement and desire in the context of courtship while paradoxically portraying the hunter as a victim.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  8. The noun “travail” refers to painful or exceptionally difficult work. For the narrator, hunting the hind—or courting his love interest—has been exhausting, unfulfilling, and unsuccessful. Wyatt’s word choice also reveals the complicated, stressful nature of courtly love, which runs counter to the idealized vision of love that Petrarch conveys in his sonnets.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  9. In the original text this interjection is inscribed as “hélas,” an archaic form of the word “alas.” This is an expression of regret, dissatisfaction, or grief. The narrator sorrowfully declares that he has failed in his pursuit of the elusive hind, who is the property of a more powerful man.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  10. Wyatt begins the sonnet with an apostrophe, or an address to someone or something that is unable to respond. In this case, the apostrophe (“Whoso list to hunt”) aims at other hypothetical male suitors. The apostrophe amounts to a rhetorical question that allows the speaker to tell of his wearisome hunt.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  11. The first line of the poem is interrupted by a caesura, or a break within a line of verse. Wyatt’s use of caesura here establishes the rhetorical situation of the poem. The opening phrase poses a question to a hypothetical audience and presents the poem’s conceit; the following phrase sets the stage for the speaker’s personal account.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  12. The first line of the poem is interrupted by a caesura, or a break within a line of verse. Wyatt’s use of caesura here establishes the rhetorical situation of the poem. The opening phrase poses a question to a hypothetical audience and presents the poem’s conceit; the following phrase sets the stage for the speaker’s personal account.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor
  13. The noun “hind” is an archaic word for female deer, typically a red deer. In this context, the hind is a metaphor symbolizing the woman that the narrator pursues with frustration. It is generally accepted by historians that in the context of Wyatt’s life the hind represents Anne Boleyn, who was married to King Henry VIII. Wyatt’s use of extended metaphor allows him to discuss a potentially scandalous affair through implicit means.

    — Zachary, Owl Eyes Editor